Daily Life with Atrea
by Petrico
Summary: Monsters, now labeled as demi-humans, are being introduced to human society through programs to allow them to live along side humans. One boy opens his home to a demi-human, but is disappointed when all she does is stay cooped up in the attic. He tries to encourage her to do more things and explore human society.
1. Chapter 1

Ch 1

It's early morning just before noon, a human is cooking a pan full of small meat pieces. The food's not for him, he already had a large breakfast and it's too early for lunch, the meat is for a guest. Once it's all cooked he piles it onto a plate and heads upstairs. On the second floor he walks to the middle of the short hallway on the left, a string hanging from ceiling releases the stairs to the attic. As he steps up, each wooden panel makes a soft creek. The room above is dark with barely any light, waiting for his eyes to adjust all he can see is the floor covered with loose white strands winding all over the place. He moves slowly watching his steps, just a few days ago he got tied up in a net of this stuff. He stops in the middle of the dark room holding the plate, standing there quietly. She knows he's here but he's waiting for her to respond before giving her the food.

"What did you make for me today, boy?" A woman's voice echos in the room, sweet but with a hint of venom in her tone. "More beef? Or is it chicken again?"

"Actually today I wanted to try something new," the boy says trying to sound joyful and sunny. "It's pork." He can hear the sigh under her breath.

The creature descends into view, long sharp legs nearly as long the mans height tough the floor, holding up a large round body all of it black with a slight sheen. On the front of the body rests a human torso with light skin easier to see in the darkness. She's a spider woman, an Arachne. Standing up she looks down on the human with her six black eyes, she harshly takes the plate in her claws and started picking at the pieces.

"Don't you get tired of eating only meat?" the human asks.

"I told you I'm a carnivore, I can't digest plants so just keep it simple." She says between bites. "Eh, there's way too much fat on this."

"I thought you could try different foods, there's a lot more to pick from for humans."

"It all tastes the same to me."

"It doesn't really help your kind staying in my attic while eating off government checks. Maybe try new things, we could see a movie or go to the park, introduce yourself to people and get them more used to demi-humans?"

"Just bring me food and I won't cause any trouble, like I care what any you humans think of Arachne. I only took the offer because it promised free food."

It was clear he wasn't getting through to her, his bright face melted into disappointment. Everyday for the past week has been like this, she does nothing but hide away and eat, he tries to respect her privacy but that hasn't gotten him anywhere. "I'm always downstairs if you need me."

Just as he's leaving she makes one more remark, "If you don't want to feed me I'm sure those villagers in Peru will scream with joy knowing I'll be stealing their chickens again."

The boy can't really argue. She has every right to spend her time in the attic. He's not losing any money keeping her and as long as she doesn't wander off without supervision or harm anyone of another species she's not breaking the agreement. He had hoped letting a monster person live in his house would be exciting and he could learn first hand about a new species, but nothing has changed, it's become even more lifeless than when he was alone. Maybe this is as good as it gets with Arachne. She keeps eating as if he's not even there, but then the man notice something on a shelf. It's white, standing out in the darkness, and much more concentrated than the loose strands across the floor. He cleared out his personal things from the attic so he knows it's not his. He moves to get a better look.

The boy stares at it, his vision has adjusted so he can see all the detail. It looks like a miniature white spider doll tied together with silk, it's stood up on it's own legs and has black X's for eyes from some other black thread material. It looks very well made with a lot of care. After a full week living in the same house he hadn't learned anything about her or spider people. He had just assumed she only made traps. "Did you make this?" he asks.

The spider finally takes notice, "Hey, what are you doing?"

The man gently picks up the silk doll in his hands, "I didn't know you had a hobby like this."

"Well I don't need to make traps constantly anymore and sometimes I get bored, so I knit things with spare silk. What of it?"

"If you don't want it I'll take it. I'd love to keep it in my room."

"A lot of Arachne do it", she says making a dismissive expression, "I'm not even that good at it. I should just take it apart."

Just then the man got an idea, "Hold on a minute." He rushed out of the room, jumping over the silk covered floor on his way out. He was full of energy, this was the first time she had talked to him about something other than what food she wants to eat. In no time he came back with a magazine and a small flashlight. He flipped through the pages and shows it to the spider. It's a catalog of dolls and stuffed animals.

"Humans make these too?" She said in amazement, she also hadn't seen anything new about humans since arriving.

"Girls especially seem to like them, something about a small defenseless animal makes people want to hug it and decorate their room with them." He flips through the book some more showing more stuffed animals, holding the light for both of them to easily see the pictures.

"That one looks very nice," she points to a jaguar doll. "It must have taken a lot of silk to make it"

"Actually most of these probably use wool or cotton. It's a lot softer and easier to make than spider silk, though I'd guess it's not as strong for building webs."

"I wish I could make something like that."

"If you want I could buy it for you."

"That's not necessary, I'd rather make my own animals."

"You don't share your dolls with other Arachne?"

"Male Arachne often give their creations as gifts, but it's usually just a distraction before they start trying to mate. I don't want kids with someone who can't sculpt a cat with their own silk."

"I guess it's the same for humans. We usually just buy them to make girls like us or for little kids to play with."

"Buying someone else's dolls to give to your mate. Humans are very strange." The spider continued looking through the book but then had a strange thought, "Why does someone like you have this kind of book anyways?"

The boy goes silent for a moment, in a panic he flips through the pages some more, "Coffee tables. I bought this because I needed a new table and they had some."

The spider felt this behavior was strange but thought nothing of it and turned the page back to the cute animals. One caught her attention while he quickly skipped through. "What's this creature?" She pointed to the book again. "It looks like a fat anteater."

"That's an elephant, You've never seen one?"

"Well I've seen something like it. Those small mammals that claw through dirt to eat bugs?" she tries to rationalize the similar features of the two animals.

"It's one of the largest animals alive," he says to correct her.

"It doesn't look that big."

"It's practically as tall as this room. Even preschoolers learn about these kinds of animals." In his mind it suddenly hit him how bizarre this animal from a distant continent is and how popular it is to even little kids in his own country. But to her it's something completely unworldly.

"There's no way an animal like that exists with a nose like that." She says in shock, "There aren't enough ants in the world to keep a beast like that fed."

"They have four at the zoo just downtown. They mainly eat leaves and other plants. Would you like to go there sometime?"

She drops her arrogant expression and goes silent for a moment. She turns her view to the small window and only source of light in the attic. The silence continues until she replies, "Maybe someday." The boy's face lights up, he got a 'maybe' out of her.

He then looks down at the plate he brought up and noticed it was empty. "Well I guess I'll head back downstairs." Now's a good time to leave her to her thoughts. "You know to call if you need anything." There's no need to rush her out, there's already been a lot of progress today.

Suddenly, something catches the boy's leg. A silk strand snags his foot and wraps around the rest of his leg. In an instant he's yanked into the air by his ankles, his arms and legs tied in a web of sticky silk, he's left hanging upside down from the ceiling unable to move.

"Didn't you say you didn't have to make traps anymore?" the boy says trying to keep calm.

The spider tries to hold back her giggling, "True, but I still make them to be safe. Also it's fun to watch you squirm."

The boy tries really hard to speak calmly but eventually can't help it, "I said I'd be more careful in the future because I'd hope you'd eventually grow out of it. After today's talk I'm willing to let you keep making them, but let me down this instant!", he shouts as he struggles to break free but can barely move. The spider woman can't help but laugh uncontrollably.

She works her way up to the tied up human and gently cuts him loose, trying to hold back more laughter. He hits the ground with a thud. After picking himself up he continues walking out, much more frustrated. It's nice he had a decent talk with his demi-human guest but all he can think about now is how much trouble it is climbing up to the attic to get strung up in her web traps.

"By the way," a quiet voice comes from the attic, "could you buy me one of those stuffed wool dolls sometime? Maybe a cat?"

The man smiles once more. "Sure thing, Atrea."


	2. Chapter 2

Ch 2

Monsters, or demi-humans as they're called now, have lived in the same world as humans. Since the earliest civilizations, they have continued to shock and mystify humans for how different yet similar these creatures are to themselves. Now in modern day, mankind is reaching out to these many races to offer them a place in society and enjoy a peaceful co-existence. One human has opened his home to a guest, an Arachne name Atrea.

It's another usual day, the human is washing some dishes in the kitchen, a TV in the connected living room is left on as white noise. Everything feels quite until sharp stamping can be heard from the stairs. A tall black figure staggers it's way into the kitchen.

"Geez it's hot today." Atrea says. She had been moving around the house a lot more lately. At first it was just wandering around at night but now she's coming out during the day. Her pale skin is even more apparent in the morning light, especially against the rest of her black spider body. She doesn't wear much, just enough to cover specific areas and a loincloth, which is common for Arachne who generally wear nonrestrictive clothing. Her humanoid arms are covered in a carapase from her elbows down to sharp claws, she brushes her short straight hair with them like a comb. While she doesn't have eyelids to blink her black pupiless eyes, the way she's moving makes it clear she just woke up and is a little groggy.

The human boy replies, "Sorry the attic doesn't get much air conditioning, it can get pretty hot up there during the summer. You're welcome to pick somewhere else to sleep if you want."

The spider shakes her head, "It's fine at night, it's just morning when it gets so hot and dry. I can't just sit in there anymore." She grabs a bag of jerky from a counter and moves to the living room to sets herself on the couch. Tearing into the bag and snacking on the dried meat she starts flipping through channels giving each only a few seconds.

Just then, there's a knock at the door. The boy sets down what he's doing to answer it, opening the door reveals a tall man in a black suit. He's dressed like a government agent, his eyes are completely blocked out by dark reflective sunglasses. He towers over the boy and is almost as big as Atrea.

The boy stutters, "M-Mr. Jones?" This was Atrea's Cultural Coordinator, the man who originally brought her to the house and said he'd be looking after her while she's in the country.

"Hey, Frank." Atrea calls out from her spot on the couch.

The tall man removes his sunglasses and looks down at the boy, he speaks calmly, "Sorry to disturb you, I was sent to do a little survey to see how your new living partner is doing."

"Oh we're just fine, no problems at all." The boy shakes a little, not for any reason but he's always been nervous around authority figures.

"If you don't mind I'd like to ask some questions." Mr. Jones pulls out a clipboard and pen. "Has Atrea been wandering around the neighborhood without your permission?"

"Oh no, she hasn't left the house since she got here." The boy replies, trying to stay calm.

"Atrea?" Mr. Jones calls out to her.

"I didn't do nothin'." she replies casually, still channel surfing.

"Mhm," The agent starts writing something down. "Has she harmed anyone while living under your care?"

"No, sir."

"It all matches up. One more thing, sorry if it's a little personal but you two aren't getting 'too close' are you?"

"W-whatever do you mean?" the boy has no idea what he's implying.

"Atrea?"

Without hesitating, "He's not my type." She shouts back.

"Alright, everything seems to be in order."

"S-so, there's no problem?" the boy asks nervously.

"Just a routine check up. Some demi-humans can get a little antsy adjusting to urban living in their first week or get too excited with their host family. Atrea's honestly one of our lowest concerns."

"That's good to hear." The boy says, though he's woried by trying to get her to go outside more he's putting everyone at risk.

"Just keep checking on her and make sure there aren't any major changes in behavior. We'll check again in a month." Mr. Jones puts his sunglasses back on, "Have a nice day." He walks off to a car parked along the street.

The boy closes the door, finally he can relax. He's never been a delinquent but that doesn't mean he's not afraid when a police officer knocks on his door, no matter how nice they may be. He goes over to the TV to check what Atrea is watching, the channel hasn't changed for a couple seconds so it must be interesting.

It's a new channel, "And now, an indepth look at the Lamia tribe, the Twisted Grass clan, and their protests against deforestation across their traditional rainforest home."

Atrea chuckles a little, and the boy can't help but feel concerned for both the Lamia and Atrea's mental state. "Do you know them?"

"They seem familiar but I couldn't tell you anything about them. I'm sure if we did know each other, they'd have a lot more to say about me. Apparently humans want to cut the trees and grow cows?"

"The term is ranch," he corrects her, "but aren't you upset they're destroying your home?"

"It's not my home now, they can do what they want with the snakes. Also, beef is good."

"Well, what would happen if you were still there?"

Atrea goes silent for a moment. After a long while she snaps out of it, "It doesn't matter. I'm here now and as long as you're here I can stay."

"You know, the forest has been slowly losing land for many years, and you haven't even been here a month. There's no way you could defend the whole forest yourself and you'd probably just make it sound like you were only looking out for yourself. Don't you think the Lamia might have had a part protecting you as well as their own home by speaking for everyone?"

Atrea scoffs at the idea, "I've seen countless Lamia, Harpies and insect demi humans, all of them fighting to claim space. Now that something bigger than all of them has claimed the whole forest just to chop it up, they want to say no one can truely own it as if we're peacefully sharing it. If they had the chance they'd push all the others out, they're no better than the humans." As she finishes talking, she takes a bite out of the last piece of jerky from her bag.

The boy can't help but feel attacked with that last statement, "What do you meanby that?"

Atrea is silent again, but then speaks, "Maybe I was too harsh on them. Lamia are just looking out for themselves, and when they're against everthing else they have to be a little greedy. They just want somewhere to live and forage safely like anyone."

"That's not quite what I meant. You made it sound like you blame humans for being greedy."

"Well..." she takes some more time before responding, "Not so much greedy, but selfish."

"Aren't those the same thing? You said those Lamia are greedy for wanting to keep their land but it's also not much of a bad thing, but earlier it sounded like it was as bad as what humans were doing."

"I've been watching TV a lot, mostly it's just a waste of time but other times it's all about humans. What they're doing now, and what they've done before. Whenever I do see them talking about demi humans it's often about how it's a big new thing that they're even around."

"Well, haven't demi humans only recently been revealed to the world?"

Atrea scoffs again, "You really think they could easily cover up all monster races since ancient times? And only now recognise they even exist? Monsters have never built massive cities but they've always been around."

It does sound kind of rediculous to the human, but before he can comment he notices a comercial just break ended and turns his attention towards the news program.

Atrea quickly stands up before turning off the TV and continues ranting, "Humans don't just take what they need, they ignore everything they take it from. They act like they're the most important group and built over everything else. Only now they're taking an interest in me because they want to seem like they're the good guys, offering a friendly hand first. You're right, the forest has had humans destroying it for years and only from this house I can see they only care about the monsters there for a story. After years of treating us like animals, or worse fairy tails, they only now put on an act of feeling sorry. Now if I reject their offer then I'm labled as the attacker and Frank gets paid either way to make sure I follow their plan."

The boy waits a moment, she said a lot and he's not quite sure what to say back. But he feels he has to respond, to defend humans and Mr. Jones, "I'm sorry I didn't know sooner."

She slumps back down to the couch, her head tilted away from the boy. "You didn't do anything wrong." She tries to calm down but is still in a bad mood. "The worst thing you've done is not know about monsters, if that's makes your life easier then I can't blame you for it. Frank does his job to keep other humans safe, not worry about the monsters. Even if I wanted to say you're all too selfish I'm the last person who should talk about it. I'm the most selfish being in the world among a race who only lives for themselves, if anything enters our space we'll try to eat it. I didn't care the slightest about learning about the world when I came here, I just wanted a free house with free food. As much as it upsets me humans have pretty much looked the other way with monsters, I've done the same with the entire world and just focuesed on my own life. Lamia and humans just want to feel safe and that sometimes means pushing out others. Everyone's selfish like that."

"That's not true," The boy interupts, "You're not as selfish as you think, you took the time to listen to humans who wanted to see what you'd do in a human house. That couldn't have just been because you wanted to stay in my overheated attic." He sets his knees on the couch to face Atrea directly, "You took the time to go somewhere else, learn about something bigger than your corner of the forest, you knew nothing about humans since you got here and now you're furious at their massive history of just ignoring you. That takes some interest in someone else and acknowledging they matter. Like those Lamias holding a protest to talk with the humans, rather than push back they want both sides to understand what's going on. That's the opposite of selfish."

"You really think I'm not selfish?" Atrea turns her head to face him, she smiles before saying, "You're an idiot."

"Well I thought it sounded good. Maybe everyone does start selfish but we're all better when we try to do it for selfless reasons. After all, you're sharing your house with me, even if it's just so you can have the house too."

She keeps smiling but it shrinks to a nicer form, "It is a nice home, and you're nice too."

"Does that mean you like me?"

"Meh, I take it back, you're only fine."

Not quite the response he had expected but as long as she looks at him in a positive way. The boy turns back on the TV.

"Hey, say I wanted to be a little more selfless, what could be done to help those snakes keep their forest?"

"It's up to them to make sure they're recognised by humanity. But I guess we could always fund a charity, give them a little hand and show we care back. But for now, I want you to see other things humans do. Think of something other than your forest." He changes the channel, looking for something humans make that she could enjoy.


	3. Chapter 3

Ch 3

Rain can heard from outside, pouring down and drenching the streets. It's not a serious storm, some days it just rains. The boy wanted to take Atrea out somewhere but it looks like it's just not a good day for it. He's not disheartened by it, maybe they can do something else like teach her different card games, just keep giving her something new until she begs to be let out. As he's walking down the stairs to find her, he hears a soft hissing noise within the house. It starts to sound familiar but then stops for a moment only to begin again. Focusing on where it's coming from he tracks it to the kitchen where he finds Atrea crouched down to the floor. A spray can she's holding hisses as she sprays it along the edges of the floor. She may be moving around the house more but he never thought he'd find her cleaning, however it doesn't really look like cleaning as she's not wiping up the spray.

The boy approaches to question her, "What are you doing?"

"Oh, you're awake." She looks up for a moment only to go back to her work, "I'm spreading slime repellent around the house."

"Why would you need to do that? Slimes don't live in human cities, even in suburban areas they're so small and uncommon you probably won't even see them."

"I've already been setting small webs to catch insects but I've never been able to keep slimes out of my space, now with human technology I can get rid of them for good." As she's talking the can she's using starts to run out, after a few shakes and dry sprays she realizes it's used up. The can is set it aside as she grabs a new one from the table where three identical can placed.

The boy looks at one of the labels. He had never even seen a slime before demi-humans were introduced and now they're already selling repellent? "Where did you get these? I don't remember buying anything like this."

"Remember at that store you gave me money to buy something for myself?"

"You mean when got that $2 key chain and lost it the same day?" He gave her $40 just so she could get something for herself while he did his own shopping, but apparently all the money went towards these. He's upset she wasted the money but more sad she couldn't get something more entertaining. "Atrea, you don't have to do work like this around the house, I can take care of it."

"Aha!" She exclaims not even paying attention to him. She grabs something from the floor, "Look, this little pest was about to soak up liquids and leave it's sludge all over the house." Between her claws she holds up a small green ball of ooze, about the size of a grape. It's transparent but has a yellow bulb in the center, simple eyes form on the surface and start darting around.

"They really bother you that much?"

"They're awful, insignificant creatures that do nothing but invade your space and eat your food. You squash one and set webs everywhere but they just keep coming to take what's yours." In that moment she forces her fingers together slicing the thing in two, it lets out a small squeak as it's pieces fall to the ground.

The boy is shocked by this display. He had swatted at flies before but this was more like seeing a mouse get executed it makes him feel unwell.

Atrea snaps him out of it, "What? That doesn't really do anything to them," she points at the two droplets, they slowly move to reform into the same slime. Atrea spray it directly as it quickly inches away, then resumes coating the edges of the floor.

As the boy broods on how he can't do anything to stop her, the doorbell rings. It's still raining so it's odd for someone to visit now. The boy doesn't want to keep them waiting, he sighs and goes to answer it, as he's leaving he shouts back to Atrea, "Okay, just get the back door and save the other cans. I think you've done enough."

"Fine. But if don't blame me if the sink gets clogged." She says as shy scurries off.

The boy ignores her and goes to open the door. On the porch standing there just out of the rain was a Centaur woman. She had a cute face and long pointed ears, her long chestnut hair was tied into a braid and hung over her shoulder. She wore a white top with a large green skirt covering the rest of the horse body, now soaked from the rain. Also, the Centaur had very large breasts, much larger than most human women. They caught his attention immediately but he quickly turned his attention to the woman's face trying to be polite.

She speaks in a polite voice, "Excuse me sir, my name is Shevaun. I've been walking around all day looking for a master and have had no success. May I stay here until this storm ends?"

Centaurs are one of the few demi-humans allowed to wander around without a family member with them, most are even given the option to choose who they stay with, it's no wonder she was caught out in this rain alone. The boy gladly guides her in, "Of course. Come right in, miss."

The Centaur walks in, her hooves clopping on the wooden floor. She stops near a couch and looks around, a few water droplets drip from her.

The boy quickly darts into the kitchen to grab a small towel, "Here, you must be soaked."

"Oh thank you," she says warmly. She bends her legs to kneel and starts patting herself with the cloth.

"So, Johan was it?" As he asks, a crashing noise can be heard from the back of the house. "Excuse me for a second, make yourself at home." The boy leaves the room to investigate the noise, likely Atrea. He sees the glass sliding door to the backyard open. Just as he's wondering where Atrea is after only telling her to spray the bottom of the door, she walks in with a cat clutched in her arms. The animal is screaming and flailing as she holds it firmly with a wide smile on her face.

"Look what I found just outside." She sounds so excited but the boy is rather irritated by the sight.

"Atrea what are you doing with that poor creature?"

"I'm just petting him. You never told me cats in this country were so small and cute. It's like a tiny jaguar." The cat is constantly clawing at Atrea but is ineffective against the exoskeleton along her forearm. She continues to gently runs her hands along it's head as it flails and cries.

The boy feels he should be concerned how she's treating the animal but right now just getting her to drop it is important. "It's probably a stray, just get rid of it. Come on we have a guest. A Centaur came in from the-"

Atrea interrupts him, "Aww, but can't I keep it? If foods the problem I could eat less."

"I just don't want a cat in my house. Besides, weren't you complaining how annoying slimes are?"

"This is completely different, cats aren't pests."

"Oh yeah? How are they different? It's a small animal that wanders around and eats while shedding hairs."

"Simple, cats don't crawl up your ass during the dry season looking for moisture." Atrea says without giving it a second thought.

The boy wants to respond to that comment but is shocked by her language, he's left speechless for a short moment. "Just put it outside, I want you to meet someone who could be staying for a short while."

Atrea sulks for a moment before setting the cat on the ground, it immediately run out into the rain to escape the spider.

The boy walks back to the Centaur, hopefully she didn't hear too much of that, he takes a moment to calm himself and focus on being polite. She's still kneeling and has finished drying herself, the towel is set neatly on the nearby arm of the couch.

"So, miss Johan?"

"Shevaun." She corrects him.

"Yes, miss Shevaun, is there anything else I can get you?"

"No that won't be necessary."

Atrea walks in after closing the back door, she and Shevaun stare at each other for a moment. Each with a blank face.

The boy speaks up, "This is Atrea, she's an Arachne who's been living with me."

There's no response from either of them for a moment until the Centaur says, "Sir, I'm sure you've realized I'm looking for somewhere permanent to live. I've been searching for days for a worthy human but have had no success. However, you've been so kind to me after just meeting me during this rainy day. With that sign of charity, I feel you are worthy to be my master."

Both the human and spider are awestruck by this announcement, Atrea interjects first, "Really? You're getting another girl to live with you?"

"H-hold on, I haven't agreed to anything," the boy says. "Miss Shevaun, I'm honored by your offer but I can't really take you in. Atrea is enough for me."

Atrea feels annoyed the way that sounded, "I never thought giving up your attic was such a hassle."

"No, Atrea," he says, "You living here isn't a problem, but getting you to do more things is it's own full time job. Bu... can we not talk about this now in front of a guest?"

She doesn't feel better hearing it, but she remains silent.

Shevaun stands up and steps closer to the two, "Oh I'd be no trouble at all. I'm already very active and as a Centaur I'm much more practical than that spider. I'm allowed move more freely around town, I make errands runs faster than you could walk anywhere, and as a vegetarian I'm perfectly fine eating raw vegetables without much cooking."

"I'm sorry," The boy replies, "but the answer is still no."

"Well, maybe I could replace her. Centaurs have worked along side humans for centuries, meanwhile these spiders have always been loners. If having us both is too much trouble I'd recommend simply making room for me."

The boy is shocked by this proposal, he takes a moment to think of what to say.

The Centaur continues before he can answer. "I needs a home soon, I'm allowed to choose my master but I can't take forever. I can be a great asset to any home but first I must know my master is a worthy person with a good heart. You've shown you have such a heart but you say you're busy taking care of this creature instead. If you let me live with you I'm certain you won't regret it and getting rid of her would be no great loss."

"How dare you?" Atrea hisses at her. "You get the privileged to choose a house but you have to make it your goal to take it from someone else?"

"It's the human's choice who he lives with. It just so happens he showed valor by offering me shelter from the rain and that's more than enough to prove he's a good person. If he qualifies to be my master and the only thing in our way is you, and you have no use besides taking up space, he should chooses to be my master."

Atrea's rage builds until she can't stand by any longer. She lifts her claw to attack but the boy quickly stops her. He makes a quick glance at her, he knows she's upset by what she's saying but she can't lay a hand on her.

The boy speaks back, "Shevaun," his tone is a lot harsher, "I'm sorry to say getting rid of Atrea is out of the question. It's not about Atrea being helpful around the house or doing chores, I'm perfectly fine with Atrea being a shut in for now. Personally I'm not all that social myself, the reason I wanted a demi-human to live with me is so I could show them everything humans have to offer and explore a little more myself. Feeding her is no issue and I'm fine doing all the work to maintain the house, but what really upsets me is she just wouldn't budge for the first few days, she was worse than me but I guess that's what I asked for when I wanted to conquer my own laziness."

Shevaun makes a statement, "But you could still show me around. I'm not completely familiar with your people and I'd gladly go anywhere with you."

"You don't need me to show you around, you can move freely already and Centaurs are already fairly well liked by humans. Meanwhile Arachne barely get along with anyone, she needs me to show her how kind humans can be and show humans how kind she is. I'd much rather help her learn to branch out more than abandon her for someone who can already run off without me."

Centaur sighs in disappointment. The room goes silent, the boy holds back his feelings as Atrea had just been insulted while she admires how much she means to him. Birds chirp from outside when everyone notices the rain has stopped.

Shevaun interrupts the silence, "Oh would you look at that, I must be going now." She makes her way to the door to leave. On the ground she notices a house spider on the floor, she swiftly stomps it, glaring back at Atrea, then leaves calmly like nothing had happened.

Atrea is silent for a moment but then just laughs. "Did you see that? What an idiot."

The boy is lost on what she means, "What?"

"Like that meant anything. Does she really think stepping on a tiny thing like that means anything to me. Like she must see dumb horses as equal to her." Atrea continues to laugh. "Anyway, I think I'd like to eat now, I think I'm in the mood for horse meat."

"Centaur or not horse meat is illegal here. How about I just make chicken."

"Fine." She sighs.

The boy takes a moment to think, "Actually lets eat later. Help me find the playing cards, I'm gonna teach you how to play Crazy Eights. In case it rains again."


	4. Chapter 4

Ch 4

The human is sleeping in for today, Atrea doesn't usually interrupt him at night and just happens to see him during the day but now there's not a whole lot to do this morning. Sitting on the couch as the TV plays in front of her, she makes and remakes silk dolls just to pass time. In the wild she'd never have this problem, setting traps and eating take up half the day on their own, but with food just showing up in the fridge there's really nothing to do.

After making yet another cat figure from the same clump of silk she gives up and just lays across the couch. She starts thinking of something else to do, anything that could use up some time. Looking around there's not a whole lot, but then she sees a newspaper. She doesn't know how to read human language but it gives her an idea, she could go outside and check for today's mail and paper. It's not much but it's something to do, maybe the boy will thank her for it.

She pulls her self up from the couch and readies herself at the front door. She can't go anywhere without the boy but she is allowed to walk around the house without him with her at all times, and that includes the yard around the house. However, she's still nervous something could happen. Maybe it's just instinct while living in the wild.

After a deep breath, Atrea opens the door and scurries down the driveway. The sun is incredibly bright as she raises a hand to keep it out of her eyes. A quick look inside the mailbox, nothing's there. It makes sense, no one talks to the boy often anyways so who'd need to write something to him? Looking across the ground she sees a rolled up paper, she grabs it and hurries back inside. Closing the door she has completed her task. She feels very proud of herself, she went outside without being told to, she even got something done for the boy. That was a good use of her time, but now she needs something else to do.

After some time pacing by the front of the house, the doorbell rings. Atrea's startle, she just went out for the first time to check the mail and now she has to greet visitors. She goes to quickly answering it before the bell rings again, hoping to let the boy sleep undisturbed. As the door opens, looking down she immediately freezes in place, two people in uniforms appear in front of her. One is a human girl with blond hair and beside her is a mermaid in a wheelchair. A demi-human with the police? No, it must be the M.O.N. Squad, did someone call a SWAT team on her? Why are they here now, how long has she been watched?

'I'm sorry officers, I didn't mean any harm', she wants to speak up but she's paralyzed with fear. The silence between them goes on for quite a while, she can barely move or speak. Should she move?

Just then one of the girls speaks, "E-excuse me miss," a soft voice from the mermaid, often looking down to avoid eye contact as she talks. "W-we're s-scouts and we wanted to ask you..."

Meanwhile Atrea's thoughts are still going wild. Scouts? Like rangers? They must be here for a wilderness census like in the forest. She knew a few rangers and they usually left her alone and only asked questions about how many animals she had seen.

The human whispers something to the mermaid, she then speaks up clearly and quickly, "Would you like to buy some cookies?"

"Cookies?" She had never heard of them.

"Y-you see, I'm trying to get my first badge and, we're selling cookies so, I thought I could help..."

Atrea thinks more and then comes to a conclusion. Badges? These girls need to earn their own badges in this society. Either it's a strict meritocracy where only the strongest proceed., or maybe these two girls are oppressed by the men in the law enforcement. Atrea was told before coming here things may seem male dominant but she never thought she'd see it. These poor officers need to sell something door to door to earn respect. Then as an Arachne woman she'll do everything she can to help these young girls prosper against their male counterparts. Atrea yells back, "Yes ma'am, I'll do anything to help you climb your corporate ladder and fulfill your dreams. How many of these cookies do I need to buy?"

* * *

Later that day, the human wakes up around noon. After getting himself out of bed and dressed he steadily worked his way down stairs. Heading to the kitchen for a snack he sees Atrea eating something, as he continues to wake himself up he then notices a mountain of cookie boxes on the counter. He pauses for a moment to take it in then asks, "Atrea, what is all this?"

"Oh, you're up. I got the newspaper." She points to this morning's paper laying on a table, continuing to munch on some cookies. The boy had hardly noticed the paper next to the obvious tower of boxes that were certainly not there yesterday. The boy's not upset, he's lived with her long enough to know she doesn't lie or try to misdirect him, she's just clueless.

"Where did you get all these boxes?"

Atrea finishes chewing and answers, "Some female officers came by saying they needed me to buy some, so I got 50 just for them."

The boy snaps fully awake from being told what just happened. He's shocked by how she just casually says it, "You bought 50 boxes of cookies? Wait, the police were selling them?"

"Yep, they said they were scouts but hopefully by this afternoon they'll be respected-"

The boy interrupts furiously,"Atrea, those weren't police, they were just girl scouts."

"Come on, boy. The correct term is 'scout girls', even I know that." She still feels proud of herself, thinking she actually got something right.

"Atrea!" he snaps back at her, "They sell these to make money and teach kids basic business management. Those weren't police officers it's just a club for little kids."

"Huh? But they had a mermaid with them, it must have been M.O.N." trying to justify her twisted reasoning.

"How tall were these officers?" he says starting to sound angrier.

"Well, the mermaid was in a chair so I'm not entirely sure."

"Why would there be a mermaid with the-," he cuts himself off, there are more important things to discuss, "You said there were two of them, what about the other?"

"Oh yes, the other was a human and she was about... this tall." Atrea reaches down, the boy can clearly see it's the height of a small child. He looks back up at her eyes disapprovingly.

It then suddenly dawns on him, this many cookies must have cost something. "Atrea, what did you use to pay for these? Don't tell me you stole them after someone said they were for sale."

"Don't worry, I gave them that silver card thing you use. They said they'd bring it back later when they were done with it."

The boy's rage starts to boil, 'You gave them my credit card?!' he wants to scream at the top of his lungs but is left speechless, as he's about to explode the doorbell rings. He leaves the room looking back at Atrea one more time before making his way to the door, trying his best to calm down. Once he's ready to talk without shouting with rage, he opens the door. He finds an adult woman with blond hair and two girls, one is a young mermaid with her face covered by her webbed hands like she's about to break out in tears.

The woman talks, holding up the credit card, "I'm sorry sir but we can't accept this as payment. I believe my girls have forced too many cookies on you."

The boy responds, "No, it's my fault. My home stay had no idea what was going on, I'm sure your girls were very polite and she just acted like a fool in front of them," he says trying to cheer up the mermaid girl. "I take full responsibility for her carelessness."

"Olivia here is one of our newer members and is still very shy when talking. She volunteered for this to try and improve but I'm afraid we can't give her credit for something like this."

"I already said I don't blame her," the boy says. "I don't know what you said to Atrea but you did a good job getting her to buy your cookies. I don't believe you tricked her, more likely she still has no idea how money works."

The mermaid lowers her hands and makes a little smile. The boy smiles back letting her know everything's alright.

The boy continues, "It must have been very hard talking to an Arachne and not only getting her to listen but also buy cookies, that takes some skill."

The woman answers back,"I just want to apologize for any inconvenience. If you could return the cookies we won't charge you for any of them."

"Now hold on, I can't buy all 50 boxes, however I'll gladly pay for some."

Atrea and the boy spent the next couple minutes giving back most of the cookies. Including four which Atrea had opened earlier, the boy kept fifteen boxes which he bought with cash.

"You actually kept some?" Atrea asks as she immediately goes back to eating.

"Well I was going to buy some anyways. Just not nearly that many. Next time if there's someone at the door call me, I don't care if you do have to wake me up just don't spend money without me knowing." After getting worked up and doing so much lifting the boy just wants to go back to sleep. As he lays himself on the couch he notices something. "Hang on, Atrea are you eating those cookies?"

She pauses for a moment, "Yeah."

"You're eating that, and it's not meat." He was specifically told by the government and her that Arachne only ever eats meat, but she had been snacking on cookies since before he woke up and just went back to them.

Atrea is also amazed, "Huh, weird. I guess I can eat processed sugars. Who knew?"

"Yeah, good to know." In that moment the boys day went from troublesome to great, Atrea had eaten something new without being forced to, and she liked it. Now if only he could get her to eat something with more nutrition. "Don't eat too many of them, save room for dinner."

"Alright," Atrea starts to walk out and head up stairs, "By the way, could you eat the peanut butter ones, I tried them but they didn't taste very good."

"Uh, I hate peanut butter."


	5. Chapter 5

Ch 5

"Why do I have to come with you, can't you do the shopping yourself?" Atrea complains as she and the human walk down the street. Crossing her arms the whole way she has no choice but to follow him.

"I told you," he says, "I want you to pick something else to eat. You've been complaining about everything I try to give you so I want you to pick for yourself."

The pair get a few glances from people as they walk. Arachne are still very uncommon in public, especially in broad daylight. As well as being taller than most common demi-humans, her black body appears very bold in the open sunlight while her pale torso is glaring. It's also apparent she's not in the best mood, she continues to adjusting her short black hair as she's pestered by the wind.

The two come to a crosswalk at an intersection and wait for the light to change. The boy talks, "I want you to pick out three different meats, I don't care if it's something you've already had but I want you to get something other than chicken."

The spider groans, "Ugh, fine."

"And no jerky bags," he adds, "it has to be real meats."

"Seriously?" She snaps at the boy, "Can't you just let me get away with my comfort food?"

"The whole point is to try new things. I don't care if it's the same animal just pick different cuts."

She rolls her eyes just wanting to get this experience over with. As they're waiting she notices a small kobold staring at her. She hiss at the dog creature causing it to back away whimpering. The crossing light turns green and they cross the street to the supermarket.

As they arrive, the boy leads Atrea towards the back of the store to the deli section. A wide open fridge displays a large variety of packaged meats. "Okay, I'm going to go pick out some vegetables, wait here and pick some meats." Getting nothing but silence from her, the boy walks off around a corner leaving his trust in her.

Atrea looks at the meat packages, nothing catches her eye and it all looks pink. She barely knows what half of it is and what she can read just confuses her. 'Jumbo Shrimp? What moron named that animal?' She continues to just look across the display for nearly a minute sulking.

"Try the ground sausage, it's easy to put it in just about anything." A familiar voice speaks from behind her. Looking to her side, Atrea sees a man in a black suit standing right next to her, it's Mr. Jones her Cultural Coordinator.

"Frank?" She exclaims.

"Don't worry, I'm just wasting time and I noticed you were in the same area. Lets just have a chat."

"Why me? Don't you have someone else to bother?" Atrea says, turning the rest of her body towards him.

The man simply looks forward smiling, "Yes but I don't usually get time to see how you're doing. I have to constantly pop in on Lamia and Harpies, you know the ones famous for causing problems. You're such a low priority you only get a short monthly visit."

She glares at the man as he just keeps smiling before turning her attention back to the fridge, "Well if you're going to pester me let me ask, what kind of meat do you recommend? The boy dragged me here just to show me this pink stuff."

"Oh, you must be very happy, he went out of his way to let you pick what you get to eat."

After a brief silence, Atrea says, "Not really, if it was up to me I'd just get chicken but he's making me pick other things, forcing me to eat something different."

"Well if it was up to me I'd have steak for every meal, but even then it'd get boring after a while and would probably ask for chicken myself. But for you I guess it'd be something easy to cut so you don't have to chew it too much." He rubs his chin for a moment as he thinks, "Sorry, I can't help but think what a spider would eat and it just comes back to insects, there really aren't any bad choices here."

"Except he doesn't wait for me to ask for something new, he just changes things up and I only find out at the last second."

"I guess that is a little hasty, but in the human world you have a lot of options and not a lot of time to try them all. It's important to experiment when you can."

She lets out a heavy sigh, "I know, it just feels like he's forcing me to do this, that's all."

"Well you haven't been spending your time all that wisely yourself. You've certainly gotten better but you're still only experiencing society from one house. My guess is if you take too long to branch out you'll find yourself in a rut and not even bother, and he wants to prevent that."

She scoffs, "That's never happened to me before, I always did something different each day without trying."

"Well for one, city life is a lot different from living in the jungle. I don't eat whatever I can catch and get a new experience each time, I do mind numbing paperwork for hours and then I grab the same old stuff from a store just like this. The only way things will change is if I decide to eat out or push myself to grab something else." Just then something catches his attention and he points to a package. "Oh you could try venison, deer meat is pretty lean compared to-."

"Hang on," Atrea interrupts him, "what was that you said earlier, about what I've been doing with my time?"

"Sorry, photographic memory. I can't deny we do keep track of certain things but nothing serious, again you're really not worth the special treatment."

"You have been spying on me haven't you? You specifically mentioned what I do with my time. Someone is watching me."

Mr. Jones drops his smile and calmly talks to Atrea, "We do have some agents watching a lot of demi-humans, but I assure you none of them are there specifically for you."

"Really, that black elf seems to have been watching me quite a lot. Almost every time at midnight she's in the exact same place."

"Oh, you've seen her," he sounds a little regretful. "She's been with us for a while and I've asked for her to help in this area. She works as sort of a neighborhood watch, just there to take notes and look for anyone suspicious. For whatever reason she does mention you a lot in her reports but there's no particular reason behind it."

"Make her stop." Atrea snarls, "I don't need you people watching me."

"Well the things she writes down aren't exactly wrong, you do spend a lot of time hiding away in that house. I don't see anything wrong with what you're doing, but from another view it can seem a little suspicious."

Atrea just stands there silent, unable to make a response. She's angry but can't say anything that would improve the situation.

"I'm sorry, we've got a special situation going on and need our best members on it. I honestly shouldn't have told you she's even there but if you brought it up I guess there's nothing to deny. You haven't told anyone about her have you?"

"I haven't told the boy and I don't think he knows, there's not a whole lot to show and he'd probably think I'm crazy asking him to hide up there. She probably just wants me to know I'm being watched."

Mr. Jones gives a small shrug, "Maybe she likes you if she's letting you see her."

"Frank," she responds in a very serious voice, "dark elves don't like Arachne." They both know the two races simply don't get along, Mr. Jones is trying to be optimistic about it but can't really convince Atrea there's nothing going on.

"Well, neither of you have done anything wrong so I can't really do anything about it."  
Someone walks up and taps Mr. Jones's shoulder. They both look over, it's a very human looking body with dark gray skin. She's unmistakably slimmer and more beautifully crafted than any human and has her pearl white hair tied into a ponytail. She's wearing a black combat uniform and her eyes are covered by a thick visor, a lot like Mr. Jones's sunglasses but larger. Atrea can't tell for sure but has a strong suspicion she's the one spying on her. The elf points her thumb over her shoulder signaling it's time to go.

Mr. Jones looks back to Atrea, "Well looks like my time is up. Good to see you're behaving yourself, but I've got to do some actual work now."

As he walks off the elf continues an expressionless stare at Atrea before following. Atrea gets the idea, quietly saying she'll personally be keeping an eye on her.

"You really wear those glasses everywhere?" Atrea calls out jokingly.

The elf turns back and replies coldly, "They're prescription."

Atrea looks back very smug.

Mr. Jones pulls the elf along, "Come on, be nice. She's one of the few I've got that doesn't do anything and you're picking on her."

Atrea turns back around and realizes she still needs to pick three meats. With one last sigh she picks some out. She remembers the venison recommendation and grabs it, there was something about ground meat so she reaches for something in that area, and just grabs another at random.

Just then the boy comes around the corner in a hurry, patting his hair down as he runs. Atrea greets him, a little more content than she was earlier today, "Oh hey, you got here just in-"

"I don't want to talk about it," He interrupts her, "just get your meat and lets go." Moving at a brisk pace he rushes to the front of the store, Atrea scurries to keep up with him.

After paying for the items and leaving the store, the boy keeps up this speed even on their way home. Atrea kept silent most of the way but after worrying so much, she finally speaks up, "Is something wrong?"

The boy replies shaken, "It's nothing, it's all taken care of." He's a little short on breath but eventually turns to her. "Oh, did you pick out something you want to eat?"

"Yeah."

"That's good," he says starting to sound glad, "I was going to help you if you it took too long but something came up and... Er, forget it. Lets just go home."

"You're not going to take me shopping again anytime soon are you?" She says sounding disappointed.

"I'd rather not go shopping for a while. But..." he stutters for a moment before stopping and turning to her, "You really want to go again? Earlier you just wanted to stay at home."

"Yes it was annoying to be forced to go out. But after some thought, it think it'd be better if I could choose for myself more often."

"Alright. I'll take you a few times to watch my- I mean, every other week lets go together and you can pick something."

Atrea is getting very suspicious of his behavior, "Are you hiding something from me?"

"No, not at all." The boy goes silent before letting out one large breath before answering, "You're right, it's important for you to make your own choices while you're living here. I'm sorry if it feels like I push you around but it's not because I'm trying to tear you away from something."

"Really? I just want to be left alone more but that's good too." Atrea says, "Just know even if I do want privacy it doesn't mean I'm doing something bad, or digging a rut in the house."

"That's good. Wait, you're doing what?" He says, taken away by her phrasing.

Atrea chuckles a little, "It's nothing. Don't force me into things as much and give me the chance to explore a bit." The two continue on their way home, but without going too far Atrea asks one more thing, "So what did happen to you while you were gone?"

"I told you, I don't want to discuss it."


	6. Chapter 5,5

Ch 5.5

"Okay, I'm going to go pick out some vegetables, wait here and pick some meats." Getting nothing but silence from her, the boy walks off around a corner leaving his trust in her. He brought Atrea shopping as an excuse to get her out of the house for a bit, but she had done nothing but complain the whole way. Hopefully she finds something she likes and can stop complaining anytime he gives her pork.

The boy looks over to the vegetables, while he lets Atrea pick cold meats he'll grab some of the items that are less sensitive to being left out of the freezer. He goes to look for carrots but can't seem to find them, everything feels rearranged since last time he came and he can't seem to find anything. After walking up and down the display he finds most of what he's looking for but just can't find any carrots.

A woman's voice speaks, "Is there a problem sir?" He then feels someone lay their hand on his shoulder, he turns around to see a green Lamia wearing a store uniform apron, a regular human body but at the torso becomes a scaly green snake tail.

The human responds, "Miss, I can't find the carrots and everything just seems out of place."

"Oh yes, we've just gotten a new manager and everything in the store has been redesigned. There are still some problems to work out but if you follow me to the back I'm sure we can find whatever's missing."

"Thank you miss Conner," noticing her name tag to address her. For a moment after saying that he thought it was an odd name for a Lamia, or a girl, but didn't ask anything further to be polite.

The boy follows as the Lamia girl slithers to the back of the store, she leads him through a door to the back of the store the lights start to become dimly lit. After walking through another door into a very dark room, the door suddenly closes behind him. In pitch blackness, he feels three Lamia jump on him and quickly coil around him. First one wrap around his mouth gagging him, then another restraining his legs before tying his arms. Before he has the chance to struggle or shout he's already restrained, only muffled screams can be heard. They then replace themselves with duct tape and rope as quickly as they had jumped him.

"We got another one." One of the Lamia cheers.

As the boy gets his head straight and his eyes adjust to the darkness he sees three Lamia, each with a different color, yellow, red and blue.

"Oh, can I enjoy him now?" The red Lamia begs as she reaches for the boy's pants.

Another Lamia, the blue one, slaps her hand, "No, this one we're keeping fresh for the village."

"Aww, wouldn't it be better if we gave him a taste of what's to come?"

"No, you heard the queen, she wants more cherry boys to play with."

The yellow Lamia interrupts them, "Hey, how do you know he's a virgin anyway?"

"Well," the blue one pauses but continues to act superior, "he just smells that way. You can tell he's never been with a snake before."

"Hmm?" The red Lamia slithers up and licks the boy's cheek. He continues to squirm in his bondage as she stares curiously at him. "He doesn't smell or taste all that different."

"Oh, can I have a taste?" The yellow one raises her hand and makes her way over.

"Knock it off, both of you." The blue one pulls the two towards her.

The Lamia continue to bicker among themselves while the boy is forced to listen to their screeching. He tries to inch away keeping low but the red Lamia uses her tail to drag him back in place. He realizes he's going to be stuck here for a while with them. Suddenly, there's a loud metal clang from across the room. Everyone goes silent and turns their attention towards it, it's so dark no one can see what it was.

"Did anyone see what that was?" says the blue one.

The yellow one answers, "It's all cold back here but I can't sense anything."

"Go check it out."

"Why me?"

"Cause you're younger."

"But I'm the same age as her," the yellow snake points to the red one.

The red one talks back, "No way, I'm at least three months older than you."  
The blue Lamia shouts above both of them, "Stop complaining. You," grabbing the yellow Lamia and tossing her over, "get over there, now."

The yellow Lamia slithers across the room to where the sound originated. She searches around for a bit before picking something up. "It's just a can of soup."

"Is that all?" the red Lamia replies as she goes back to wrap herself around the boy, "Then we can get back to business."

"I told you before, get off of him." The blue Lamia grabs her off and they start fighting.

The yellow keeps looking around at the back of the room when the boy sees something drop down from the ceiling. A shadowy figure silently drops down behind the Lamia and grabs her as if strangling her, the other two are too busy shoving each other to notice. The yellow snake falls unconscious as the thing silently jumps back above just before the other two notice.

The blue Lamia shouts, "Hey, are you sleeping on the job." She slithers over to the yellow one and starts slapping her face but gets no response, "What did I tell you about staying up all night?"

The figure drops down again just missing the blue Lamia, the snake backs away startled before stabilizing. The shadowy figure appears human but slightly smaller, as she throws punches and kicks at the Lamia her movements are much faster than any human. The snake fights back but is assaulted by many of the hits, she's unable to block or dodge them. After being pushed back, she swings her long tail at the attacker only for it to be dodged, the figure jumps over the attack gracefully and after landing immediately slams the blue Lamia's face with a powerful kick. The Lamia is knocked unconscious and falls onto the yellow one.

Thinking quickly, the red Lamia grabs the boy, "Don't move or I'll-"

As soon as the figure notices the red Lamia, it pulls out a gun and starts shooting. Even as the Lamia tries to block with the tied up human, every shot hits her. The boy is terrified as he's being used as a shield, but his screams are still muffled. After a hit to the forehead, the red Lamia falls and drops the boy. On the ground he notices one of the bullets, seeing it close up it looks like a non-lethal rubber bullet but it does little to make him feel better about getting shot at.

The shadowy figure approaches the boy, after throwing the red Lamia to the side they grab a knife from their boot and cut the boy loose. "Are you okay?" a quiet woman's voice. Looking to her eyes the boy only sees a black screen. Her skin is a dark gray and white hair tied into a ponytail, while she does appear human her features are very different from a human, almost hand sculpted.

The boy can barely speak even after the tape is removed, "W-who are you?"

She answers with a cold tone, "I'm with the M.O.N., you're safe now. We've been tracking these Lamia for a few days." The woman continues speaking as she moves the red Lamia to the pile of unconscious snakes.

"How long has this been going on at this store?"

"While the Lamia behind this has been living with the manager for a number of weeks, their operations only started today. Everyone should be safe but I'd advise not shopping here for about a month."

The boy struggles to stand, helped up by the woman. "I gotta get out of here, this is just too much."

"Don't worry, everything should be fine now. Just finish your shopping and continue on your day."

"Oh no, Atrea is still waiting for me," he says in a panicked voice.

"Your homestay?"

"Yeah, she's an Arachne and I brought her shopping. I shouldn't leave her alone for too long."

"...Hmm," the woman lets out one more expression as the boy leaves.

The boy quickly grabs the basket he had before getting jumped inside the room and rushes to get a few more things. He doesn't need the carrots anymore, he just grabs what he can before going to pick up Atrea.

Atrea greets him, a little more content than she was earlier today, "Oh hey, you got here just in-"

"I don't want to talk about it," he interrupts her, "just get your meat and lets go." Moving quickly, he rushes to the front of the store. After paying for the items and leaving the store, the boy keeps up this speed even on their way home.


	7. Chapter 6

Ch 6

It's the middle of the day as the boy has finished cooking meat for Atrea. He has already set a plate for her and is getting ready to make something for himself, setting a pot of water to boil on the stove. The spider walks into the kitchen with her large legs making a gentle stamping noise.

"Oh hey Atrea, dinner's ready so help yourself. I'm just about to make something for myself."

Atrea looks at her food for a moment before asking, "Hey boy, I've been meaning to ask, how do you make the meat all white and brown?"

The boy turns back looking at her, "You mean cooking?" he says a little confused, he thought she already knew how it worked.

"Yeah I think that's what it's called. I've seen Lamia with grilled stuff sometimes but never actually seen them do it."

"It's nothing special, I've done it long before you showed up and with all your food. But you mean you've never cooked your food?"

"I never knew how and just thought it was best to eat things fresh." She picks up a piece of meat from the plate and looks at it up close.

"I can't imagine eating meat raw," the boy says feeling a little sick, "but I guess that's because so much of the meat here it is left frozen for days."

Atrea steps forward towards the boy looking over him, "If I'm going to be living here, I demand you show me the secret human art of cooking." She has a determined look on her face staring down at the boy.

The boy inches back as she gets close to him but after some thought simply shrugs it off, "Well it's not exactly a secret, sure. I was just about to make something simple anyways so you can help me and see for yourself."

Atrea's resolve falls apart, glad she had convinced him to teach her but distraught it wasn't all that important. She moves herself over to the stove beside the boy.

"Cooking is mostly just heating something until it's better to eat. Either making it more solid, gives it a new taste or removing diseases. You can touch the handle of the pot but try not to touch the edges or water directly."

Atrea is distracted by something else as the boy is talking, "How do you get the fire blue like that?"

Looking down at the stove flame the boy is distracted as well, "I honestly don't know..." Just then he notices the water is starting to bubble, he continues his talk, "Anyways, now that the water is heated and boiling you can add the food," he passes an opened box of pasta to Atrea.

"Y-you want me to do it?" she says, a little worried.

"I told you it's simple so I'm not worried. Just add half of that to the pot and be careful not to spill."

She hesitates for a moment before gently pouring out the pasta, farfalle bows fall out as she lightly shakes the box over the water before staring in wonder. "They look a bit like butterflies."

"Mhm, now just stir the water slowly while they cook, it helps prevent them from sticking," he says as he hands her a wooden spoon.

Atrea pauses for a moment before reaching for the tool, she grabs the spoon with a fist holding the head upward. The boy gently corrects her, she now holds it more like a pencil.

"Just use that to move the water in a circular motion without having to put your hand in."

She stirs the pot slowly, staring down as the pieces circle in the water. She continues staring, waiting for something to get her attention, mesmerized by the repeated motion of the water, like her predator instincts are starting to take over. She then snaps herself out of it. "When does something interesting happen?"

"Well, this is basically it," the boy says standing to the side. "Cooking is just knowing how to cook something and waiting, hopefully not over cooking it."

"You can over cook things?"

The boy tries to be patient with her, "It's like how said not to burn yourself on the sides of the pot, you want to cook the food for a while but if it cooks for too long it can get burned."

"How do you remember how to cook everything?"

"Well most of the time it's just something like this, you get used to knowing which pan to use and how long to stir it until it looks good," as he's talking he grabs a large cookbook from a shelf, "or just read how it should be cooked."

"Fire, tools, and now reading. No wonder I never learned how to cook, it's a completely human concept," she says as she continues to stir.

"I guess so," the boy says thinking to himself, but then he remembered, "you said Lamia cooked things too, right?"

"I guess but it was mostly just grilling," she reaches to the cook book and flips through random pages. She stops on a cake recipe, "See that, humans are the only ones I've seen make something like that. Sometimes they mix meats and leaves or something or put them on sticks but, what is this even?"

"I see your point, I guess it's like cities or something. Still you seem to like eating your meat cooked."

"Hmm, I guess." Atrea thinks to herself, staring at the stirring water again, just staring at it. Just then a sharp beeping sound screeches in her ear. Atrea jumps at the shock and panics for a bit. "What's that?"

"It's alright, I set a timer while you were string, now's just a good time to taste it."

The boy takes the spoon from Atrea and fishes out two pieces, blowing on them to cool and hands one to her. Atrea doesn't really know what to think, after eating the pasta piece given to her it doesn't sit right in her mouth. "It just seems squishy and bland."

The boy replies, "I usually prefer it harder but it's good. It's done cooking." He reaches to turn off the stove and moves the pot to the sink. After straining the water in a colander, shaking it until it stops dripping, he pours the pasta onto a plate. "And it's done. You did a good job."

"That's it? That's all I've been missing?" She shouts out, again it feels like she had been tricked.

"That's really it," the boy puts the plate down on the table, across from where Atrea's meat plate is waiting. "Some other time I could show you how to cook meat, but it's a bit harder knowing when it's done and burning it can be really bad. But pasta's a good easy food to start with."

"Why don't you just eat your meat raw instead of going through all that?"

The boy finishes a bite of his pasta and says, "Well, try one of those pieces of pasta raw."

She looks over to the box from before, still there on the counter. She reaches in and picks out a piece. In the first bite it feels awful in her mouth, as if chewing on bones it just feels unpleasant and has no taste to it. "Okay, I think I prefer the cooked butterfly more," she says trying to sound calm. "But meat is good even if it's not cooked."

"I'm sure it's hard getting used to it. I've had cooked food for so long it feels weird when you say you can just eat everything as soon as you catch it." Just then the boy gets an idea, as he walks to the freezer he shouts back, "Atrea, eat your meat before it gets cold."

She notices her plate of meat that's still there and starts eating it. Meanwhile the boy heats up a small pan and cuts a small piece of meat into it. Atrea eats while she watches but he doesn't take very long before turning off the stove.

Carrying the pan over to her, he scrapes out a small blob of meat onto an empty space on Atrea's plate, "This is the same meat I made for you, just not cooked. It was frozen but after a little heat, it's pretty much the same as raw. I want you to try it after eating only cooked food since you got here."

"Is that it?" Atrea grabs the meat and starts eating. It's not bad, but it feels so soft and icky. After a bit of chewing she almost wants to spit it out but manages to swallow. She then takes another piece of the cooked meat. It's soft, but solid and easier to chew on. The flavor is much better compared to the raw piece. "Alright, cooking food makes it taste a lot better. It's well worth the effort," she admits.

"I'm glad you see it that way." The boy happily sits down at his place. "You don't have to learn to cook anything complex like a cake, but it's good you want to cook for yourself and I won't have to worry about getting take out."

"Take out?" She looks up, unfamiliar with his phrasing.

"Oh, nothing." He knows he can't hide it forever, restaurants make food much better than he can but it'll be costly if she gets addicted to it too soon.


	8. Chapter 7

Ch 7

Atrea is lounging just watching TV while the boy is out. Just a normal day, but luckily after discovering more interesting channels it's not all that boring. As she's watching a game show, not completely understanding it, the doorbell suddenly rings. She slowly gets up and goes to answer it, finding a postal delivery man holding a brown rectangular box.

"Excuse me, miss," the man says as he looks up at the spider woman, trying to keep a pleasant face, "could you sign for this package?"

"Hmm?" Atrea says rather confused, "I'm sorry, the boy's not here right now but he should be back soon."

"Oh, I just need to prove that someone was here to receive the package. Could you just write your name on the line here?" The man hands her a clipboard with a piece of paper on it.

"Oh, if that's all, alright." She grabs the clipboard and starts writing. However, while it looks like she's writing, it's more like scribbling something that looks like cursive. She had seen the boy do something like it, but has no clue what she's drawing. When finished, she hands back the clipboard as the man passes her the box.

"Thank you miss... Fitzgerald?" he looks up with a puzzled look on his face just as Atrea immediately closes the door behind her.

Looking at the box, Atrea can't help but wonder what the boy got. The box is fairly wide and has some weight to it, there could be a lot of different things in it. After thinking to herself, she eventually decides to open it while he's away thinking she couldn't get in too much trouble if she's careful. She sets the box on the ground before opening the box with her claws, inside she finds a suitcase with a strange gold symbol on the top. After gently shaking the case for a bit it feels like there's something else inside it. Still curious, she slowly opens the case to find the inside is lined with white cushioning. Laying in the center is a small human girl doll dressed in red, about foot and a half in length.

She picks it up to get a closer look, the girl has light blond hair tied into twintails, dressed in a red ruffled gown with a matching shawl and bonnet. A green bow rests around her neck with ribbons wrapping around her outfit. She looks very detailed, almost like a real human but smaller. Atrea turns the doll in the air as the arms flap around. She then pokes the face gently with her claw, it feels hard like a glass plate. As she's poking the doll's cheek, the eyes begin to open. They also appear very human like with a deep blue color, opening wide before crossing into a scowl. The doll then raises a hand and swiftly slaps Atrea across the face.

"Unhand me you brute," it talks. Atrea immediatly drops the doll back into the suitcase backing away in fear. She watches as the doll then pulls itself out from the suitcase by itself, moving and walking a lot like a human. "Honestly, that is no way to treat a lady."

"What are you?" Atrea says, panicked at what ever is going on.

"You may call me Crimson. I am the third doll of the Rose series and I have been ordered by a human to live in this house." The doll dusts off her dress and stares up at Atrea. Despite being so tiny compared to the giant spider woman, she makes a scornful look towards her. "Now then, where is the master right now?"

Atrea crosses her arms and talks back to the doll, "The boy's not here right now, I don't know what you're here for but I'm the only demi-human living in this house."

"Very well," Crimson says as she walks past Atrea, "I'll simply wait for his return." She walks up to the couch and pulls herself up quickly without a struggle and sits neatly, "Now servant, make yourself useful and make some tea for me."

"Excuse you?" Atrea replies back, very annoyed.

"No, excuse yourself. It's only proper to make tea for a new arrival."

"I'm not your servant you little toy."

"You're not the master and yet you live here, you must be a servant and therefore you are responsible for all work within this household."

Atrea is very frustrated by the doll, especially her condescending tone as if she owns the place. She just wants to pick her up and smash her face on the nearest wall. But she holds back knowing better, aside from claiming she was ordered by the boy, and he'd probably be upset to see a murdered doll, she's likely a demi-human. If she harms her, she could get in trouble. For now, Atrea leaves the room to make tea.

After searching the kitchen, Atrea finds a box of tea bags in a cabinet. However, she has no idea how to prepare them and can't understand the packaging very well. She uses what she already knows about cooking and sets up a small pot of water to boil. Once it begins bubbling, she drops a bag in hoping for the best. She stirs the water for a bit as the water turns brown, after some time she simply decides that's enough and takes the pot out to the doll. Atrea finds the doll in the same place on the couch blankly staring at the TV, Crimson had changed the channel to some sort of puppet show about a detective dog. After watching for a short while, it looks like it was designed for very young children.

"Is that tea done yet, servant?"

Atrea resists the urge to scald the girl with the liquid and simply sets the saucepan on the coffee table in front of her. "There you go, hope you like it."

Crimson looks at the pot disgusted before turning up to Atrea, "Were you raised in the woods you savage?"

"As a matter of fact, yes. Though I'm not sure it's accurate, no one really raised me," she says back with a smirk.

The doll gets down from the couch and saunters back to her suitcase, she brings back a miniature teapot, cup and saucer and sets them on the table, "Put the tea in there and then pour it in this."

Atrea groans but continues to go along with it. She manages to pour the tea into the teapot before pouring it into the cup. After another incident of forgetting the saucer, the doll finally accepts the tea.

She sips her drink slowly, afterwards the doll goes silent for a moment before an outburst. "It's vile," she says with the same snobbish tone she's used whenever talking to Atrea.

"You're saying you could make it better?" Atrea says back defending herself.

"I shouldn't have to, I'm saying you should make it better. What would the master say if he drank this?"

"He'd probably be glad I made anything while you just sat here watching-," she looks to the show playing as the dog detective is shooting a walrus person with a revolver. Atrea watches as the show seems to have gotten dark unexpectedly. "This is pretty intense for a kids show. Are you sure you should be watching this at your age?"

"It's my favorite. And besides my age has nothing to do with my enjoyment of this show."

Atrea ponders for a moment before asking directly, "How old are you anyway?"

"About 15 months."

Atrea raises an eyebrow as the doll says it so casually before just accepting this is just how things are now. A creeking sound is then heard, the sound of the front door opening, the boy is back.

"Servant could you get that? I'm busy right now." the doll says, though Atrea has already gone off to confront the boy and get some answers.

"Hey Atrea, how were you while I was-"

"Boy," she harshly interrupts him, "did you mail order a doll?"

"Oh, it was supposed to be a surprise but I guess you already know. Do you like it?" The boy has grows wide grin on his face but is immediatly shortened by Atrea's expression.

"Like it? She's unbearable, I can't possibly live in the same house as her."

"Wait, what are you talking about?" the boy looks back confused, wondering what Atrea means.

"Master? Is that you?" The doll calls from the other room in a sweet voice.

The boy is even more confused, "Atrea who is that?"

"It's the doll you ordered."

"What?" The confused look continues to grow on the boy's face, even more as Crimson comes walking over into view.

"It's about time. Servant, lift me up."

"Lift yourself, you nuisance." The two exchange glares before Atrea gives in, she picks up the doll.

She sits on Atrea's arm like as if it were a seat holding her up to the boy's eye level. The doll then extends an arm with the palm facing down, on her hand is a brass ring with a rose symbol on it. "Kiss it, and the contract will be completed."

"What?" The boy's confusion continues to grow as he see what's happening. "What's going on?"

The doll speaks again, "Kiss the ring, you are my master and the contract is proof of your ownership. You have ordered me to live with you in your home and shall pledge yourself to me as I do to you."

"What?" The boy can't help but say that again but louder. "No, I didn't order you, I ordered a different doll."

The doll's eyes widen as the boy denies her, "Of course you ordered me, it's clear as day on the proof of purchase. Servant, put me down."

Hearing this, Atrea releases her grip on the doll as she falls to the ground with a thud. Atrea grinning as the doll lays there before picking herself up.

Searching in the first brown box, Crimson picks out a single piece of paper. She reads from it and exclaims, "It's right here, 'delivered to the order of Sir Samson,' is that not you?"

"Oh, I see now. That's the name of my neighbor," he says feeling relieved. "Our mail gets switched up sometimes, he should be over soon to fix th-," as he's talking there's a rapid knock at the door cutting him off. "Well, there he is." The boy opens the door to reveal another boy roughly the same age but spiky hair and round glasses. He's carrying a brown cardboard box similar to the one the doll's case was delivered in.

"Hey man," the second boy says, "it looks like it happened again. Is my girl alright?"

Atrea butts in sounding very upset, "Don't worry, she made herself right at home."

"Master," the doll shouts joyfully as she hurries to the door, standing between the two boys she looks back to Atrea and commands, "Spider, lift me up one more time."

"You've got to be kidding me," Atrea grumbles under her breath.

The boy of the house gives out a huff, "Here, I've got it." He lifts up doll along with her case and hands them gently to Samson.

"Thank you so much," the boy with spiky hair says as he backs off with Crimson. He then turns to her with an adoring voice, "I'm sorry you missed your show, I couldn't get home soon enough to open you and my mail is always getting swapped with his."

"Oh it was no trouble. I managed by myself," she says with a sense of pride, as Atrea clenchs a fist.

The boy closes the door, letting out one last sigh of relief as he leans back. "So, how was your day?"

"What the hell was that?" Atrea can't help but raise her voice even after everything had been settled, "That toy did nothing but boss me around like she owned the place."

"A living doll. They're pretty rare and hard to make but they've gotten a lot more popular after being declared demi-humans."

"That's a demi-human?" Atrea says scratching her head, "It looked like just a small human."

"That's sort of the idea. Originally they were made to just look and act like people, do simple tasks and keep people company. Like toys for very lonely people."

"Hey now," Atrea says, "you didn't just get me because you're lonely and couldn't afford one of those, did you?"

"No, not at all," the boy shyly looks away, trying not to offend her. "But they're different, they were made as simple toys before. Now they're starting to get so advanced, people want to say they're like their own race of monster and deserve the same rights."

"Great, another thing that hates me. Just as I was thinking you humans make interesting stuff."

"It's more complicated than that. She was clearly built with one personality in mind without much developmental skills, they often make dolls based on fictional characters that way just to talk and act a certain way. Not really their own person, just robots who emulate it. But at the same time, how can you tell if she's just a very convincing doll or like another demi-human?"

Atrea lets out a groan as she's listening to all this, "Uh, this whole day is just giving me a headache. I think I'll just go rest in the attic."

"Alright, I'll call you when dinner is ready." The boy stretches before walking to the couch. He then stops and remembers something, he notices the box the other boy brought and picks it up for Atrea, "Oh yeah, this package is for you."

"Uh, what? Another doll?" she says as she's part way up the stairs.

"I'm not saying, just open it here so I can see."

Atrea struggles her way back to the boy and cuts into the box, she searches through the flood of packing peanuts before something orange catches her eye. "Boy, you got this for me?" It's a small stuffed jaguar doll, one she remembers seeing in that catalog they both read.

"You said you wanted one so I went ahead and bought it," he says with a smirk on his face as he sees the amazement on her's. "Still tired of dolls for today?"

Atrea slowly brings her arms and the jaguar to her chest before saying, "Well, I'm fine with this one. It can stay quiet." She continues her way up stairs.

As expected, her reaction is less than what the boy had hoped, face shrinks down before saying, "Alright, as long as you like it." He walks over to the couch, just as he's sitting down he hears a whisper in his ear.

"I love it."

Looking over his shoulder he just misses Atrea but he hears her skittering up. His smile returns.


	9. Chapter 8

Ch 8

It's a beautiful sunny day as the human and Atrea happily sit at the dining table across from each other. The two haven't had a chance to eat together but today just feels special and Matthew is taking care of the cooking.

"It's such a nice day," the boy says as he stretches in his seat.

"I agree," Atrea says with a wide smile, "I just feel full of energy today."

The oven beeps and in no time Matthew enters the room, "Is everyone ready to eat?" From the oven he pulls out a steaming roasted turkey and brings it to the table. The two stare at it drooling as Matthew starts carving pieces from it.

"Oh, can I have the drumstick?" the boy shouts, quickly raises his hand with excitement.

"Of course," Matthew answers, "I'd be glad to let both of you have a drumstick." He doesn't waste time and cuts off the bird's thighs and givings one leg to each of them.

"Aww, isn't that nice of him? Giving us both such a special piece of the meal he prepared for us." Atrea grabs her drumstick by the bone, she starts gnawing on the meat before vomiting up a bit of stomach acid onto it.

The human stops eating at the sight of Atrea's eating habits, his smile fades and stares at her until she notices and stares back. The room starts to feel more and more uncomfortable as they continue to exchange the same look. After some time, it suddenly occurs to the boy, "Oh, I almost forgot, that's just how you eat large pieces of meat."

"Y-yeah," Atrea says nervously, "is there something wrong with it?"

"Oh no, I just usually give you small pieces so you don't have to, this is the first time I've..." The boy stops mid speech, his head slowly drifts off and his gaze goes off into empty space. He then pulls his head downward clenching his head, feeling a sharp migraine all of a sudden.

"Are you having those headaches again?" Matthew asks, walking over to him, "Here, let me give you a massage to make it feel better." He puts his hands on the boy's head, gently rubbing the sides to relax him. His hands slide along the boy's head towards his ear before a...

...

...

...

"Feeling better?" Matthew asks.

"Yeah, much better." He doesn't feel much different but the pain has stopped. The boy goes back to eating as if nothing had happened.

"Oh, Atrea, let me cut your meat for you."

The boy continues eating, it tastes great, but he can't help but wonder when he bought it, followed by another sharp pain in his head stopping his thought process. Looking back at Atrea he Matthew has finished cutting her meat for her, he wonders why he wasn't the one to cut it before being hit by another shock of pain. Anytime he tries to think of about something a sharp pain stops him forcing him to think of something else, all he can do is stay quiet and eat.

Just then, there's a strong knock at the door. Everyone stops what their doing and turns their attention to it. "Who could that be?" The boy instinctively stands up and slowly walks to the front door as Matthew slips out towards the back of the house.

Before he can answer it, the door explodes into the house. The boy is suddenly forced backwards to the ground as a tall horned figure stands in the dust cloud. The monstrous humanoid has to crouch just so it's horns don't scrape the ceiling, as the dust clears the creature appears more metallic and is holding a battering ram. It's a Minotaur covered completely in armor, the metal beast charges into the rest the house leaving the boy where he is.

Dumbstruck by the event, the boy can't say anything before he's then sees a man in a black suit walk in, it's Mr. Jones. The man in black talks, "You alright, kid?"

"What's going on?" the boy asks confused and panicked.

"Quick, what's my phone number?"

"Wha-AAH," another jolt of pain stops him as he's thinking, this one a lot stronger.

"Just as I thought," Mr. Jones say, helping the boy onto his feet. "Where's Atrea?"

The spider walks in almost unaware of the destruction. "Is something wrong?"

"Geez, he got you even worse. Don't worry, I'll take care of you both." Mr. Jones reaches into his suit and pulls out a thin metal stick. He holds it upright as a small slit opens up towards the top, "Just keep your eyes on the red light." Atrea and the boy huddle to the same spot where they can see a small red light inside the metal object, they're then hit by a blinding flash of white light.

The boy blinks in response and rubs his eyes. "What was that for?"

"Hypnosis therapy, your mind should be cleared up now." Mr. Jones says as he puts the metal object back in his pocket, "Anyways, tell me anything you can remember from this morning." "Nothing, it was just a normal day with the three of us, right Atrea?"

Atrea just stands still in a daze, she looks off balance before falling to a kneel.

The boy calls out as he tries to support her, "Atrea!"

"I just suddenly feel tired." Atrea struggles to support herself, like she had just finished a long run.

"My guess is you haven't slept all day." Mr. Jones says, "We're looking for a special demi-human who can apparently control minds, we've tracked him to this house and it looks like you're suffering the effects."

"You mean Matthew? He's always be..." The boy stops what he's saying, he tries to remember something about Matthew before realizing he can't remember anything.

"Can you tell me what he looks like?" Mr. Jones asks. "Any details would be helpful."

"...No." The boy's mind just draws a blank when he tries to think of Matthew, he can barely remember what happend to day and doesn't even have memory of what he looks like.

"Purple," Atrea says something as she continues to struggle supporting herself. "He has purple skin, I think I saw his head before but I don't know what to call it."

"Really, good work." Mr. Jones pulls out a notebook and writes something down. "Could you try to describe."

Atrea pushes herself up to face Mr. Jones, the boy still holding her by her waist, "It's like and egg but with a hand out the front." She tries to show what it looks like with her hands but it looks sort of weird."

"Uh huh." He continues to write things down.

"And, his eyes were something like this, I think." She tries to make a square oval shape with her hands.

"I'm sorry we couldn't have been more helpful." The boy says.

"Oh no, you've been very helpful. In fact, I'm sorry we let this happen. Don't worry, we'll catch this guy eventually."

The Minotaur comes to the front of the hole where the door once was, he speaks in a deep gravely voice, "He got away, sir."

"Damn. Anyway you two have a nice day, try to stay safe." Mr. Jones walks out. "Oh, and the repair men should be here shortly, they'll fix your door in no time."

After half an hour, the front of the house quickly becomes a construction site and just as quickly returns to a normal house. The door is fixed just as Mr. Jones said but the boy still feels something worrying him at the back of his head. He goes up to Atrea in the attic, still resting in a web hammock.

"Hey, can we talk for a bit?" The boy asks.

Atrea slowly turns herself to face him, still laying down, "Is something wrong?"

"No, I'm just shaken by everything. What do you do when you see something scary?"

"I'm pretty big so that doesn't happen a lot, but I guess if something does scare me I just try not to think about it."

"Well that's just it, I can't help but think about it, especially when it stands out as threatening."

"You're fine now, it doesn't matter what you saw."

"Except, I didn't see anything," the boy says. "Whatever that thing was, it got into our house without either of us knowing. I can't even remember what it was, just that we're lucky all he wanted was to feed us."

"You humans think way too much." Atrea gets out of her hammock and steps down to the floor. "If he had killed us without you knowing what would you have done?" The boy goes quiet for a bit before he's interrupted by Atrea, "Nothing. Your life's over and he'll probably eat us."

"You know, I came up here trying to feel better."

"That's what I'm trying to do, you should never worry if something is going to attack you until it actually happens. Even when something does fight me I don't worry about what'll happen if it eats me, I just fight. You shouldn't worry about what'll happen if you fail, only focus on surviving."

The boy thinks it over before saying, "I think I see your point, but it's just hard for me."

"I guess it can't be helped. I'm still getting used to this boring life you have. You never have to worry about getting eaten but that just leaves you to think about what'll trouble you tomorrow, or if there'll even be a tomorrow."

"So you're saying I just shouldn't worry about it?"

"I'm saying you're worrying too much about what you'll do when you can't do anything. Right now I need to rest and you should be doing something besides mopeing." She then lifts herself back up and returns to her rest.

He feels uneasy about her advice at first, but he sort of agrees with it. He quietly leaves Atrea to herself in a better mood. Walking through the kitchen he sees the turkey is still there, he clearly remembers he didn't buy it so that thing from before must have brought it with him. He sits down and eats what he can so the food doesn't go to waste, it's cold but still tastes really good. Thinking about that puts him more at ease, whatever it was it really didn't want to harm them. Out of no where there's a small pain in the back of his head, but he tries to ignore it.


	10. Chapter 9

Ch 9

Something's still bothering him, all day there's been something at the back of his mind. The boy tried to get some sleep but he keeps getting a headache every hour. The feeling gets harder as the night goes on until he can't focus on anything else. An idea keeps echoing in his mind, "If anything goes wrong, go to the park at 3 am." Tired and unable to get any sleep, he decides to go for a walk at night, not wanting to worry Atrea he simply avoids her without saying anything. The headaches begin to calm down as he walks the street but the voice in his head is still there.

He finds his way to the park like the voice said. Street lamps scattered around brighten the area revealing the empty fields and playground. The boy continues meandering trying to tire himself out until he finds someone sitting at a bench. Hunched over with dark grey skin and a white pony tail, he recognizes it as the dark elf who saved him at the supermarket. She even has the same thick black visor covering her eyes.

The boy walks over to greet her, "Hey, weren't you the girl who saved me from those Lamia a couple days ago?"

The elf looks up at him and replies in a gloomy voice, "Maybe, I've been having problems remembering things recently."

"No, I'm sure of it. You have the same hair as the person I met that day. Unless, do you know any other elves working with the police?"

"If you say it was an elf it was probably me, but I don't know anything about it," she says as she looks back down.

The boy slowly sits down on the bench next to her, leaving a distance between them. "What are you doing here at this hour? I had trouble sleeping and just had this urge to go walking at night."

"I don't know. Night watch duty just gets so stressful sometimes and I need a break. There's a particularly dangerous demi-human loose and we can never seem to catch him."

"Yeah, I heard of him. He broke into my house and brainwashed me and my home stay, but it all got fixed in the end."

The elf sighs for a moment, "Hearing that just makes me want to blame myself, we can't seem catch him and I always miss him moving at night. I just keep hearing bad news about it and can't do anything, I just need to take a break here sometimes to clear my thoughts."

"Why here though? Is it important in anyway?"

"Not at all, but for some reason I feel better coming here after something goes wrong."

"Hold on, you hear that voice in your head too? 'Come to the park at 3 am'?"

The elf perks up and looks to the boy, his face reflected in her visor. She sounds more excited now, "You hear it too? I've been thinking that for weeks and have no idea why."

"The demi-human has mind control powers, my Culture Coordinator said something about it before flashing my eyes with something. He got into my house somehow and just sort of took over-"

She stands up to interrupt him, "That's it, that's why-"

Just as she's talking, another voice is heard, a very familiar one, "Hello, you two." The two look over to where the voice came from, Matthew is standing there only a couple yards away. The boy tries to get a good look at him but nothing seems to stick, he's there and it's definitely Matthew but he's impossible to describe. He seems human but the boy can't remember any details on what he looks like.

"Have you been coming here every night little elf? I'm sorry, I must have forgotten to put your mind back to how I found it. But I'm just here for the boy."

In a split moment the boy's whole world is distorted for a moment, his vision twists for a second before going back to normal. In that moment he sees Matthew for what he really is, his body is human shaped but very alien with a thin body and long fingers, his bald purple head in unusually large appearing like an octopus's body with tentacles squirming where his mouth would be. The disgusting sight is only there for a second but the boy remembers every detail, in that he remembers when he first saw 'Matthew' in this form.

"Matthew?" the boy asks, "No, who are you really?"

The thing replies to the boy, "My true name is Xanadu. I am of an ancient race that ruled this world millennium ago, the Illithids, what your kind now calls 'Mind Flayers'."

The dark elf pulls a knife from her boot charges him. She only makes it half way before-

"Ηχώxiàshǒu", a loud voice echoes through the air and the boy's headache acts up again. The sound is strange as if his ears didn't hear any of it but rather the boy heard it with the front of his mind. The elf fall over to the ground struggling, grasping her head in pain. The thing presses down on her with it's foot, "Stay out of this and I won't make you suffer any more. All I need is the boy."

The boy talks to the creature, "Why do you need me? You could just talk with the government and get assigned somewhere to live."

"We refuse to live among humans as equals. While you apes were still tattooing yourselves with blue dragons we were already enslaving the lesser races and building cities. After years of decline we have lived in secret away from your kind and other races hoping to one day regain our dominance over this world. However, my clan was discovered as your kind began reaching to other races, forcing us to leave our hiding place. For now, I only need a human to make travel easier, after that you can go back to your normal life until we can take control again."

The boy tries to run, but in as soon as he thinks it his muscles start to feel stiff. He's only able to slowly walk away as the creature quickly advances towards him. As Xanadu reaches for the boy's head, the world twists more showing his octopus head. Just as the creature is about to grab him, a large black figure slams into both of them. The boy is sent tumbling across the grass feeling pain all over his body, but he has full control again. As he looks around to see what's happening, he sees the dark elf is still laying on the ground where she first dropped and Xanadu has been knocked down by a large black spider, Atrea.

"You're not gonna sneak up on me this time." She says as she stares down the purple creature. Even as he tries to fight back Atrea is too quick for him. He tries to run but she forces him back to the ground and covers him in webbing.

"Atrea, you followed me?" the boy picks himself off the ground and walks over to her.

"Of course. You really think you can sneak out without me knowing? Though it took a while to catch up and find you. But I did find Frank on the way to help. Oh, that reminds me." Atrea grabs something from her clothes, it's another metal stick used to fix brainwashing like before. "Now don't blink this time." Atrea holds one of the boy's eyes open as she activates the flash. The boy is very annoyed but he doesn't complain since she did save him.

Xanadu struggles in his bindings but can't move. "Don't think you're done with me yet, arthropod."

Atrea looks down at him crossing her arms, "What could you possibly do? Even if you weren't stuck in my web you couldn't fight back and you don't have control over my brain."

Xanadu starts making mysterious sounds again, it's a lot more faint but the boy still hears it with his head. The dark elf starts standing up, it looks very unnatural as she sort of forces herself up using only her legs. The boy immediately understands what's happening.

"Atrea, look out!"

The elf charges towards her as the boy tries to get in her way. He slows her down a bit but is quickly pushed aside. The elf swipes with her knife as Atrea dodges and returns a swipe of her claws. Atrea soon realizes she's trying to cut the octopus thing loose and so tries to defend the position. She tries to make a grab with her front legs causing the elf to back up, she only manages to knock off her goggles. They're both very quick but Atrea is noticeably slower, the only reason the elf hasn't overwhelmed her is because she's certainly bigger and stronger causing the elf to keep a distance. Atrea reaches for the metal rod to try and blind her but it's swiftly kicked out of her hands into a bush.

Thinking quickly, the boy tries to grab the elf from behind. Just as he's about the surprise her, he hears a voice in his head. Xanadu is communicating to her and reacts to the boy's plan, the elf quickly turns around and slashes him with the knife, barely missing. He staggers back as the elf is now focusing on him, but she's quickly grabbed and restrained by Atrea. As Atrea holds her, the elf continues to struggle in her hold but she can't escape, until a ball of blue light floats over to them. The orb grabs everyone's attention before exploding in light. Everything goes white and it's impossible to see what's going on, the only thing that can be heard is the elf screaming in pain. As the light clears, she has gone limp in Atrea's grasp, allowing her to start tying her up.

"Good job, you two," Mr. Jones is now there, along with a woman with blond hair and fox ears, a kitsune. The man pulls out a handheld radio and talks into it, "All clear." In no time a Minotaur covered in armor stomps over and picks up the tied up Xanadu. Mr. Jones then turns his attention back to Atrea, "You put up a good fight against both of them. Although, I guess I should thank the one who led you here more."

"What? the boy says in confusion, "I didn't do anything. It was all Atrea. I did anything."

"True, but you did blink when you first got flashed, getting an idea what his strategy was. Also, Atrea only came because she liked you so much so I'll give you credit for that."

"Hey now," Atrea shouts back at him.

However, he ignores her, "Would you mind letting go of my agent, she should be fine now.

Atrea releases the limp dark elf to the ground. Mr. Jones and the blond woman pick her up by her arms and begin to carry her off. "I think we're done here. You two can go on home."

"So, that's it?" The boy asks.

Mr. Jones stops for a moment and turns around, "Well, not quite. Atrea did assault another demi-human, even if it was self defense that's against the law. And of course you left your home without supervision..." he trails off for a bit rubbing his chin, "I don't know, you did help us catch an wanted criminal so we could over look this for a while. See you in court or something." He then just continues walking off with his helper and the elf woman.

The boy is confused about the whole situation but as the excitement starts to die down he just starts to feel tired. While it does feel like a lot for nothing, he's just glad him and Atrea are alright. "Come on, lets go home."

"What?" she says back at him, "Can't we do something while we're out here?"

"Sorry, I need to get some sleep," the boy says as he yawns.

Atrea talks back very grumpy, "Really, I saved you and I don't get anything for it."

The boy shrugs, he's also upset they didn't get anything but since they're out this late, "Alright, I'll take you out to get pancakes. Just let me sleep in the booth."


	11. Chapter 10

Ch 8

"Wow," Atrea says in awe staring at the elephants, "it's so big." After nearly a month since first hearing of the creatures, she finally gets to see some in person at the local zoo. From the top of a small cliff, she leans down over the metal bars with excitement.

The boy slowly jogs over catching up after she had left the previous exhibit, "But didn't you think the giraffes were big?"

"Eh, I've seen deer before, even if they've got long stick legs, but I've never seen something this fat."

The boy sighs and waits patiently for her to get her fill. He goes over to watch another exhibit close by, this one housing a group of zebras and an ostrich. He hasn't been here since he was a kid so it's nostalgic to just watch the animals. While there aren't many exotic animals held here, most are likely taught to kids in preschool, it's certainly more exciting for Atrea. An elephant probably looks very strange compared to anything else she has seen in her life.

"Hey, boy," Atrea calls for him, still staring at the elephants, "Have you ever seen an elephant demi-human?"

He takes a moment to think before answering, "No, I've never even heard of one. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I've seen demi-humans for a bunch animals. Birds, snakes, sometimes insects, and after coming here I've met fish, horses and other stuff. So I just thought there would be an elephant person somewhere."

"I don't know why there wouldn't be, but just because there's an animal doesn't mean there's a demi-human of it, right?" He grabs her hand trying to lead her to another exhibit, hopefully an animal that could work as an example. Coming to a cage of chimpanzees at ground level, the boy continues their conversation, "Like that, there aren't any ape demi-humans even though they're very similar to humans."

"Really?" Atrea looks across the exhibit for a moment before she replies, "I always thought humans were the 'demi-humans' of monkeys." This catches the boy's attention away from the exhibit as she continues, "Just stand one up straight, maybe a little bigger, remove most of the hair and give it a different face. Not all that different from Arachne or Lamia and their animals."

"Huh, that's an interesting way to put it." He scratches his head as he mauls the idea over, "so Arachne are just the humanized... No wait, it's unfair to say they're the human version of spiders if humans are just... 'humans' of primates." His thoughts start to slow down as he thinks about the whole situation.

Atrea looks over to him as he stares at the ground lost in thought, "You alright?"

"It's nothing, the whole point of the word 'demi-human' was so we'd stop calling other races monsters, basically meaning dangerous animal. But 'demi-human' just means 'half person', so I don't know if it's all that good a term either."

"I think I heard the word 'liminal' somewhere. I don't really know what it means but it sounds better."

He thinks back to the pamphlet he got when first learning about the exchange program, "Na, I don't really like that word. It sounds like all mon- I mean, 'demi-human' aren't just visiting human society but have no where else to go like refugees. And It still feels like a word that says they're a hybrid of human and animal."

"Uh, I really don't want to think too much on this," she grumbles under her breath, "since you humans came up with the idea, just use the word demi-human. I don't want to have to learn another language."

"Alright, I won't bother you with it anymore," the boy lets out a small chuckle.

The rest of their day continue through the zoo quietly up until around the tortoise area. As the boy reaches down into a small pen, he feel the shell of one of the tortoises. Meanwhile, something else catches Atrea's interest in another direction. When the boy gets back up and takes notice, he looks over the same way to try and see it too. Not too far from them, a family is showing a mermaid around in a wheelchair, nothing out of the ordinary but Atrea keeps staring at them. "Hey, I gotta ask," Atrea moves herself close and whispers in the boy's ear, "are mermaids monkeys or fish?"

"What?" the boy looks back at her with a puzzled look on his face. It was a pretty strange thing to ask.

"Well maybe not monkeys but things with fur that breath air," she says trying to keep her voice down, it'd be rude if the family over heard them.

"You mean mammals? Well they're obviously..." again his thoughts start to slow down as he thinks it through, but he doesn't have a clear answer right away, "well they breath air just fine."

"But even though they have hair and breasts, they have scales on the lower half so it got me wondering."

"Well," the boy hesitates before bringing it up, "you've got a squishy belly."

Eyes widened, Atrea shouts back at him in response, "What did you say to me?" Just then the mermaid starts to look in their direction, not wanting to be caught starring the two quickly turn back to the tortoise pen.

The boy then tries to explain himself quietly without upsetting her, "Well, spiders are supposed to have a hard exoskeleton all over their body but, you have this soft area all around your chest so, is it really wrong to say mermaids can't have scales and soft skin?"

Her harsh glare towards his comment continues but she resists the urge to smack him since he is right. For whatever reason all demi-humans and even humans have a soft torso area regardless of what creature they're closest to.

"Maybe they're like a platypus?" He whispers to himself.

"A what?" she says over hearing him.

The boy collects his thoughts, he knows it's going to sound crazy to Atrea. Actually, admitting this creature exists sounds insane even to people who know it exists, "It's an animal with fur and a duck's bill and sort of a paddle for a tail."

"So, mermaids can have hair even though they have scales?"

"It gets better. Even though it's hairy like a mammal, it lays eggs and then produces milk for them. Also the males have poisonous spurs on their feet. It's one of the weirdest animals out there but it really makes you wonder if mermaids or any demi-human are all that strange."

Atrea tries to contain her laughter, trying to imagine this chimera of parts in her head.

"I'm not kidding," he starts to giggle with her, "there's a real animal like that." The two continue walking through the zoo, keeping away from crowds so they can keep discussing things about other demi-humans.

"For real?" she finally lets out a gasp hearing him, "Now that's a demi-human I want to see."

"Yeah, if one exists I'd want to see it too. But for whatever reason Lamia seem to be the most common."

"Aren't they all females and have to rape humans to reproduce?"

"Well, more like they kidnap humans and give them all the sex they want, though they've stopped that as part of the agreement to live with humans. But I don't buy the idea they're all females, there's probably a few one in a million male Lamias somewhere with their own harems."

"I've never gotten close enough to Lamia to see for sure, but apparently harpies do the same?"

"No, there's bound to be some harpies who are male, they just don't care who they mate with. All rumors by perverts who'd want to go out with a girl with wings."

Just then a blue peacock wanders out from a bush in front of them, the zoo often lets them roam around instead of being kept in a cage. As they both notice it, Atrea seems very interested in it, "Oh, speaking of birds that one looks a little strange. You think there's a demi-human of it?"

"Well I've never met one in person but I've seen some pictures of peacock people online from India. Actually that's what makes me sure there must be male harpies when peacock people have a male version."

"I really can't tell if harpies are male or female, they're all just high pitch and covered in colors."

"Hmm, maybe that's why people think all harpies are female, males just don't stand out unless they have wildly different colors on them."

After more time, the two complete their lap around the zoo. They've seen all the animals and are starting to make their way out when Atrea brings something up, "So you wanna make fun of Centaurs now?"

At first he's shocked how she brought it up but since they've spent the rest of the day discussing demi-humans they might as well get it over with, "Alright, what's there to talk about?"

"Well they've got big boobs, even if it fits them better than any other. There's definitely males and they're not trying to hide them. That's all I've got."

"They've been around humans since ancient times, especially with the Greeks and even appeared with the Romans and during Medieval time. They're proud warriors and fought battles along side humans. A lot like horses, they've just sort of been helping humans for the longest time."

"Just feels weird they've been with humans but never like humans. Even if they sometimes fight with humans they've never been the ones who build the cities."

This comparison of centaurs to human society causes the boy thinks for a moment, after a short silence he asks, "Hey Atrea, have you ever heard the story of Prometheus?"

"You know I don't read. What's it about?"

"It's an old story when the world was made. A titan was given the job to design every animal on earth and give them gifts. He had given everything something special, fur, wings, claws, horns, venom, but when it was time to design humans, there were no more gifts for them. So he gave them a very special gift, fire stolen from the heavens."

"Huh," she wonders at the story, especially after all day talking about the many thing demi-humans have compared to humans. "So that's why humans are so smart?"

He shakes his head, "It's just a story, it probably never happened. But after today I just thought it was an interesting way to look at things. All demi-humans have something special, even humans who can't fly, run or do much of anything, each one is made special."

"Even the platypus?" Atrea asks.

"Especially the platypus. He got so much stuff there wasn't anything left for humans so we got the best gifts of all. I'll take a warm fire over laying eggs any day."


	12. Chapter 11

Ch 11

Early in the day, Atrea had come across the boy's DVD collection. After a quick explanation of films and movies, the two spent the rest of the day just watching classic movies. The boy watched with her trying to explain things and keep her caught up in the, they watched the Ten Commandments, Beauty and the Beast, Back to the Future, The Wizard of Oz, and were just finishing up the old Willy Wonka movie (1971).

"He just gets the entire factory cause all the other winners were rotten brats?" Atrea says.

"Well, it wouldn't have been as good of a story if all of them were average kids and made it to the end. Charlie was poor but was still a good boy till the end so he was rewarded."

"Mmm, alright. Seeing the factory was pretty fun. So what's next?"

The boy reaches over to the large nearby stacks of DVD cases, "Earlier I thought Planet of the Apes but I think we should start one of the bigger trilogies, maybe Lord of the Rings." He starts digging through them setting dozens of movies aside. Between every viewing the towers get spread over the table as he looks for something else he wants to watch then they all get shuffled back together.

As he's sorting through the stacks, one movie in particular catches Atrea's attention. The cover shows a cool looking guy with a blank expression, he's riding a motorcycle and holding a metal object while wearing a leather jacket and sunglasses, everything on the cover looks dark with a blue tint except for a red light from the man's eye. She picks up the case and shows it to the boy, "Lets watch this one next."

He looks over to her and the movie, "Terminator 2? I don't know that could be a little scary. A lot of blood and stuff."

"I'm fine with blood, besides this guy looks awesome. Kind of like Frank with those glasses actually cool."

"Hmm, maybe we could do Men in Black soon," he starts looking though the cases again before letting out a large yawn. "On second thought I'm getting a little tired. I think I'll go get some sleep." He sets one more case in front of Atrea before heading for the stairs.

As the boy starts to leave, Atrea calls to him, "Can I keep watching movies?"

"Alright," he says sluggishly, "just don't stay up too late... What am I saying, you're nocturnal. Well, just be careful not to scratch the the discs."

As the boy finally leaves, Atrea looks at the cover for Lord of the Rings, a bunch people on horses and old looking clothes. Then she looks back to the motorcycle dude in her hands. After one more look over her shoulder to see that the boy is gone, she puts in Terminator 2 to watch it. She smiled with excitement as the movie started, but after a couple minutes she realized what she had gotten herself into. The main character wasn't really the guy on the cover, it was a small boy but a lot different from Charlie. Instead of just being poor he has to deal with robots from the future trying to kill him. She said she was fine with blood but some of the things in the movie were a bit extreme, at one point one of the characters ripped the skin off his entire arm revealing a metal skeleton, almost causing Atrea to faint. There were a lot of small explosions in action scenes, but also a lot of big explosions, so big a whole city was just gone. Lots of people dying not because of a person or any creature, but from the machines.

She couldn't take herself away from the movie, she wanted to stop but couldn't look away, the robots were so scary she needed to know how they were stopped. Even after the movie finished, she couldn't take her mind off it. Robots sent from the future to kill people and prepare for the day they take over, like from that other movie with time travel but used by the bad guys. She couldn't bring herself to watch another movie or go to sleep, she was too worried that the machines were already around her and she didn't know it. Is the boy a robot? Is that why he tried to keep her from seeing this movie? She must investigate, it may already be too late.

It's still late at night so the boy is asleep. Or perhaps, the machine is making it look like he's sleeping like normal. Atrea quietly crawls her way upstairs and over to his room. Gently opening the door, she sees him "sleeping". She makes her way over to him quietly, her heart is pounding, she if he wakes up she doesn't know if she could fight a robot, what if he's made of future liquid metal? She reaches to poke his cheek and feel if it's real flesh or there's metal underneath, but just as she reaches the boy starts to get up. Atrea quickly jumps back into the corner of the room as the boy slowly gets out of bed. He doesn't seem to notice her, actually he seems to still be half asleep, or is this like an autopilot? The boy leaves the room as Atrea follows behind through the hallway, keeping her distance as she sneaks up behind him. He then saunters his way to the bathroom without even turning on the lights. Observing from the shadows...

Atrea determines he's definitely still a living thing, robots haven't replaced him yet. The boy slowly wanders back to his room the same as he had left it, not even realizing Atrea had watched him the whole way. The house is safe but she's still worried, someone else she knows could be a robot posing as a human. As she's thinking, she hears a knock at the door. As the boy is still heavily asleep, she goes to check it. There at the door is a man slightly shorter than Atrea wearing a black suit and sunglasses, It's Mr. Jones, Frank.

"Hey Atrea. Having a nice night?"

"Y-yea," she answers trying to calm herself. She sees he arrived in a black van instead of his usual car.

"Great. Listen, I need to take you somewhere for a short while. I know it's late but it's important we do this quickly. I'll make sure to give the kid a call so he's not worried."

Atrea's reluctant at first but decides to play along with the idea, "Oh, alright, I'm not busy or anything. But before we go, could you help me get something from up stairs."

"Sure thing, anything to help you feel comfortable."

Atrea leads the man up stairs, she then pulls down the hatch to the attic and heads up there. Mr. Jones follows her up into the darkness but as he steps up he had lost sight of her. "Atrea?" he calls for her, but she doesn't answer. Walking further into the attic, something catches his leg. In a fraction of a second, Mr. Jones is lifted into the air by his leg, the door to the attic closes and he's suddenly tangled in web from his shoulders to his feet.

Before he can say anything he's dropped down into a chair and a light suddenly comes on, "So, you thought you could catch me off guard could ya?"Atrea is staring him down with a flashlight held over her head.

Mr. Jones panics, "What's going on here?"

He's then slapped by Atrea across his cheek, "Shaddap. I'm asking the questions here. I know what you're planning and it's not gonna work."

The man is feeling a mix of fear and confusion, "Look, it's just my job to take you to confinement until we work out the details of that Mind Flayer incident. You're not in trouble so just let me go."

"Don't play dumb," she slaps him again across the other cheek. "You and your robot friends want to get me out of the way so you can take over the world."

"Robots? Take over the world? What are you talking about? Look, just let me go, if we don't leave soon things are just going to get worse, they'll send someone for me and I'd hate to think what they'd do to you."

"Alright, lets start with something simple, what have you done with the real Frank?"

"Real Frank?" The confusion starts to overwhelm his fear, "What? You think I'm a robot replacement?"

"I don't think, I know."

"That's crazy. Look, I'll take a test, I can prove I'm the real Mr. Jones."

"No need, anything Frank could know could just be downloaded or programmed. Now I'm only gonna ask you this one more time, where's the real Frank?"

"I'm the real Frank," he shouts as loud as he can, "I'm not a robot!"

"Stubborn huh, well I prepared for this. I've got ways to make you talk." Atera sets down her light and digs around the attic. She sets up a stool and then turns the light on it, resting on top is a Google Assistant.

"What? You're gonna check the internet to see if I'm real?"

"If you're not gonna talk on your own, maybe one of your friends will talk for you." Atrea lifts up a wooden baseball bat and begins to pat it into her hand.

Mr. Jones becomes panicked again, not for himself, but for someone else's property "Wait, wait! You're making a big mistake."

"Okay Google, if that is your real name, what have you robots done with the real Frank Jones?"

The device lights up for a moment before beeping back, "Sorry, I don't know how to help with that."

"Not talking, huh?" Atrea raises the bat and slams it down on the machine, smashing it to pieces.

"Noooo," he cries out as Atrea has committed vandalism right in front of him.

"Alright, lets see if the toaster knows anything."

Suddenly, the door to the attic flips back open, "I heard a crash, is everything alright Atre-" the boy looks up with another flashlight and pauses at what he finds. "Atrea? Mr. Jones? What's going on?"

"Boy, good thing you're awake," Atrea says excited "Robots are taking over the world."

"...Our world?" the boy says back puzzled.

"Yes, I got a fake Frank right here but he's being tough to crack."

The man struggles in his chair crying out, "You gotta talk some sense into her. If I don't check in in the next five minutes this whole house is going to be surrounded."

Thinking quickly the boy tries to find how he can reason with Atrea, and then he remembers, "Atrea, all this is just because you watched that movie, isn't it?"

"Yeah, you were right it was really scary but now I know the truth," as she's talking she picks up a toaster from the floor and sets it on the stool ready to start swinging, "we can stop them befo-"

"Atrea!" the boy shouts over her, "There are no killer robots, there are no Terminators. The movies are all fake and there's no such thing as time travel."

She stops and turns to him "No such thing as time travel?"

"It's just a story element, anything with time travel is fake and impossible in real life."

"But... The DeLorean," she said, "if Doc could make a time machine then-"

"DeLorean is just a car brand, there was never a time machine and none have come from the future. None of it ever happened."

"Well... Moses and the Egyptians? If that could happen then..."

"Even if the story were real, it wouldn't have happened in the same way or time. It's practically based on a myth."

"The chocolate factory?" She asks, almost sobbing.

"All based on a fictional book for kids and filmed on a set, there is no magic chocolate factory and no kid won it."

Atrea slowly lowers her arms and the bat falls to the ground. After a sad pause she asks the boy, "So, none of it's real?"

"Well, the story isn't real, but it's still worth thinking about." He notices the smashed Google Assistant on the ground and picks it up. "Everyday humans make machines smarter without thinking, and even more rely on them for every day tasks not knowing what it could mean for the future. There's no stopping Judgment Day and it keep coming sooner, one day we're going to make artificial intelligence that knows it doesn't need us. But we can be ready for that day by being careful with what we let machines control and use technology responsibly. That's what makes the movie real and why it's one of my favorites, it's more than just fake explosions and actors, the monster is something humans are making right now and need to watch for it. Even if they aren't any literal killer robots time traveling."

Just then, Mr. Jones blurts out, "Um, guys, could I get untied now." Atrea turns back to him and then cuts him loose. The man quickly starts frantically pressing buttons on his watch before letting out a sigh of relief. "Phew, alright, we're safe. Now Atrea, if you would kindly follow me to the station," he says calmly, much like as he was at the door.

The group walk down the stairs to the front when Atrea brings something up, "So, The Wizard of Oz was fake too?"

"All a dream, but it is a fun dream. Just don't take stories so literally. Or, read about the people involved, sometime I'll show you The Sound of Music, my mom's favorite movie."

Atrea smiles back as she begins to open the door, just before a group of demi-human grab her and carry her off. "Hey, wha-"

Mr. Jones shouts to the demi-humans, "Be gentle with her, she's said she'll go quietly now."

"What's going on?" The boy asks.

"We're taking Atrea away for a while after she assaulted a demi-human. It was supposed to be short and simple since she did help us catch a criminal, but after assaulting an officer, vandalism and resisting arrest, it's gonna be a bit longer" he then puts his hand across his face rubbing between his eyes, it's been a long night and it's still not over for him.

"You mean, she's going to jail?" The says worried for Atrea's safety.

"I'll pull some strings where I can. Hopefully she'll be out by tomorrow. Someone will be over later to interview you personally but it shouldn't be an issue."

The man leaves with his demi-humans with Atrea placed in the back of the van. As it drives off, the boy can't help but think of what's happening to Atrea. All he wanted to do was show her what humans had made and interesting stories, but it now seems she had gotten herself into trouble just as soon as he took his eyes off her.

* * *

 **A/N:** _Hey everyone, this chapter turned out pretty long so I thought I'd take time to say a few things. I'm very happy a lot of people have read this far, I enjoy reading your reviews and seeing more visitors, please keep giving feedback. I started this series mostly to push myself to write something more regularly and I try to post chapters by Wednesday at the latest (no promises) and I've had fun making it. Hopefully I can keep thinking up ideas to write about or maybe lengthen the chapters. I also haven't been planning larger plots like I should but I'm fine just making individual stories each week with an occasional follow up or maybe a half chapter. Again, thank you anyone and everyone who has read to this point in the story._


	13. Chapter 12

Ch 12

The boy continues waiting, only able to think of his spider friend, Atrea. After she was taken by Mr. Jones, he tires to watch TV to distract himself to no avail. It's now noon, hours after the incident, he finally gets a phone call. Hearing Atrea's voice, it sounds like she's taking it all well. But her well being isn't the problem now. No, the problem is she hasn't stopped calling him. Her "containment cell" sounds a lot more like a small luxury apartment, every half hour she calls him from within the cell to talk about the exciting things she discovers. Just now she called to talk about the small fridge stocked with drinks, asking why he can't get her one for the attic. The boy was glad she was safe and not having a hard time with her punishment, but now it feels she's not being punished at all, just taking her off the street for a moment.

Just as he hangs up on her, there's a knock at the door. Answering it he finds a dark skinned woman with white hair and a black visor over her eyes and holding a clipboard in her hand, the dark elf officer who he has been seeing a lot recently.

"May I come in?" the elf woman asks in a quiet monotone voice.

"Uh, sure," he leads her in, for some reason even though he knows she's part of M.O.N. and works with Mr. Jones regularly, he sees her more as a friend. "Can I get you anything to drink?"

"Do you have any coffee?"

He replies regretfully, "No."

"Well, I'll just take a glass of water," she sets herself on the couch, slowly scanning her vision around the room as she sits upright."Also, do you mind if I turn down the lights in here?"

"Go ahead."

She closes the blinds of the window and turns off all the lights in the room except for one lamp in the far corner of the room. In no time the boy returns with a glass of water coming back the a very dimly lit room. "Dark elves live underground in complete darkness. Our eyes have adapted to be able to see very well in it, but as a result natural light is blinding. And sometimes this screen gets irritating." She flips a switch on her visor, a clicking sound is heard as if releasing a lock before lifting it. She reveals her entire face as the boy is captivated by her beautiful eyes. The sclera, normally white for humans, is a dark shade of black with the iris taking on a light lavender color.

He stares for a short moment before offering her the glass, "So what are you doing here? Mr. Jones said he'd send someone over but after I got calls from Atrea I thought everything was handled."

"It is, I'm supposed to be here to question you about Atrea's behavior, but honestly we all know she's not going to be punished for anything. I've already handled the paperwork myself." She drops the clipboard onto a table and grabs her glass in one hand. "Taking Atrea was just a formality since she did attack another demi-human, but now it's just Frank trying to protect his pet project."

"Frank?"

"Oh, sorry. I've had to listen to her calling him that name the whole way, it's starting to rub off on me." Taking a moment to get a sip of water, she continues, "His first name is Tommy so I really have no idea where she got it."

"Yeah, sometimes it's hard to know why she does the things she does." The boy looks at the clipboard, like she said, all the questions were easy enough for her to fill in on the way here. "So if you have all the paperwork done, did you just come here to get away from her?"

"Yes. And, another thing..." she takes one more swig of water and then turns to the boy. "I wanted to talk with Atrea about this first but I just couldn't stand being with her, so I volunteered to just hang out here so I could talk with you. I want to apologize for how I acted over the past month."

"Apologize? For what?" He tries to think back to all the times they've met but if anything he should be thanking her for protecting him.

"Back when I was on night watch, I was manipulated to spend all my time focusing on your house, rather than doing my job I was subtly harassing Atrea. It was very unprofessional of me and I wanted to tell you I'm sorry."

"Well, that was because you were being controlled, you didn't do it on purpose."

"No, when I attacked you in the park I was being controlled directly and couldn't do anything. Everything before that was only small manipulations, for the most part it was my own doing."

Another phone call sounds from the boy's cell phone. The boy answers it, "Atrea?" Of course it's her.

"You won't believe how big the TV is here, Frank just brought some movies and showed me the remote and the thing just came out from the wall!"

"That's great, Atrea." The boy's tries to sound interested but he can't help but sound tired, after all you'd think the one thing they wouldn't let her have is more movies, "By the way, the elf girl is here if you want to say anything to her."

"...No," the excitement is just gone from her voice as she answers, "don't take your eyes off her, and don't let her take a step upstairs."

"Okay... Well you get back to your movie, and remember not to take it too seriously."

"I know, it's just something about a kid learning to fight with his hands. Kind of cool but ridiculous and the acrobatics are awful."

The boy hangs up before letting out a heavy sigh, "I can see why it's hard to talk with her sometimes."

"Again, I'm sorry for and discomfort I might have caused," she's not even drinking anymore, just looking down at her glass only a quarter emptied.

"It's never too late to try and get on someone's good side, even if things started off badly. Next time you see Atrea, maybe I cou-"

"No," she sharply interrupts, "we can't possibly get along."

The boy is shocked by her reaction but pushes closer to her. "Any reason why? She was rough at first for me too but after getting to know her she does have a nicer side."

"Well..." she stammers for a moment, "you saw how we fought while I was mind controlled, right?"

"Yes but you already said you didn't have control over yourself, I don't blame you for attacking her then."

"It's not that we fought but we were able to keep fighting. She's about equal to me in speed and strength even though she has eight legs."

With a confused look the boy questions, "You don't like her because she has legs? Are you jealous?"

"It's not jealousy, it's pity," she finally takes another sip from her glass. "Spiders are sacred among dark elves, we often base our martial arts off them and train our bodies to be as capable as them. However, Arachne are a different story. Any creature that needs the legs of a spider to survive is cursed. To my people, such a body is a sign of weakness."

"I still don't follow."

"It's more of an elf thing but maybe if I explain it like..." she goes quiet for a while thinking to herself, "You know how humans give people crutches so they can walk?"

"Yeah but Atrea's not disabled in anyway. Again she's just as strong as you."

"We don't give people crutches in my society. They either get better soon or they're better off dead. Arachne are given crutches by having eight legs and have no choice but to live with them, like a person too weak to walk on their own."

The boy's starting to understand her, "So it's just a dark elf thing. You don't like her because your people taught you that."

"And I believe it. Only the strong survive and needing help is the opposite."

Another phone call, the boy reaches for it to answer, "Yeah Atrea?"

He hears her voice on the other side but it's garbled and unintelligible. It sounds like she's drunk, more likely on caffeine. After a while the call hangs up from her side.

It's really hard to defend Atrea while she's making these calls, but the boy knows for certain, "Atrea's not weak," he says to the elf, "she was born with spider legs and is very capable with them. Even if your people don't see it that way, she's better at surviving than I could ever hope to be." He looks at her straight on as he talks but she makes no reaction to it. "What about all the people who taught you to use guns and how to fight, are you weak because of them?"

This gets a reaction from her, she turns over to him and replies scornfully, "I know I am." She slams her glass onto the table and stands up. "I tried to become a priest for so long but I failed, rather than getting a job more fitting of a woman I had to became a ranger instead. Now I'm here working with humans and even now I'm screwing up."

The boy is pulled back by this burst of emotion, after a while he speaks up, "So this is just about you not being stronger?"

She begins to calm down, "I'm sorry, I came here to apologize for acting unprofessionally and I'm doing it again." She reaches for her visor and puts it back on, grabs the clipboard, goes to turn on some of the lights and prepares to leave.

As she opens the door the boy calls to her, "I don't think either of you are weak. Atrea's a good friend and one of the best survivalists I know and you're probably the best police officer I've ever met. Elf or otherwise."

She looks back before saying in a cold voice, "What do humans know about strength?" She closes the door behind her, leaving the boy alone again. Atrea's calls had stopped for a while but she was delivered back that evening. Having spent the whole day playing at her cell she went straight to sleep, the boy never talked to her about the elf or anything they discussed. Hopefully now he can just keep her out of trouble.


	14. Chapter 13

Ch 13

The streets are empty as daytime is starting the end, the sun is setting as the sky dims into an orange haze. The boy is just leaving a chinese restraunt before it closes, only a short biking distance from form his house. He noticed he was running low on store bought meat for Atrea and still has bad memories from his time at the supermarket, so maybe now's a good time to slowly introduce her to fast food.

As he gets on his bike ready to take off, he hears a slithering sound from around the corner infront of him. The sound a Lamia makes as it moves, usually overlooked in a crowd in the quite streets it's much more recogizable, the gravely sound of a heavy body sliding across the concrete. While he'd like to dart off forward as fast as possible, he holds for a moment to politly let the creature pass. The first thing he sees is a felt hand puppet shaped like a goat, followed by a young adult Lamia girl with wavy red hair and a dark green shirt. As she rounds the corner she notices the boy and appraoches him, with the goat puppet on her left hand while on her right is a puppet of a lion.

"Excuse me sir," she talks with the lion puppet, making a deep voice that's obviously not her natural voice, "could you help us find someone, we're a bit lost." All the while, the snake barely moves her own mouth.

Surprised by the odd sight, the boy just stares at the Lamia girl as she holds her arms at eye level. "Oh, you're lost?"

The goat then 'talks', making a high squeeky voice, "Yes, can you help us? It'd be helpful if we had a human with us."

"Sorry, my friends haven't introduced themselves propperly," the Lamia now talks, her voice is tender and high but more natural than the goat's voice. "My name is Angie, and this is Leo on my right and Cappi on my left, we seem to have been separated from our supervisor."

The boy looks at the two puppets for a moment before speaking, "Okay but may I ask first, why do you have puppets on your hands?"

The lion and goat take a slow moment to look at each other before Leo responds, "Who are you calling puppet?"

"Oh stop it you two," the Angie hisses, "the thing is I'm half chimera."

"Ch-chimera?" the boy said shocked, "like the monster with three heads?"

"That's right," Cappi says, "the stubborness of a goat,"

"The ferocity of a lion," Leo continues.

"And the cunning of a snake," Angie says, "although for a Lamia, I just have two extra people in my head and they each want a chance to talk."

The boy takes a moment to think about it before asking, "So can you also breath fire?"

"Well, I try to." Angie takes in a deep breath. As she lets it out, a thick smoke ring escapes her mouth and floats intot he air before fading after a dozen feet. "It's not quite the full thing but it's better than nothing I guess."

"That's pretty cool," the boy says, before remembering she asked him for help, "Oh right your host family. Okay, where did you see them last?"

Cappi spoke up first, "Well, we were at this store and waiting as the host did something, until I saw something."

"It was a chocolate bar," Angie said, "we'd sometimes get them but this was our first time at the store seeing so many. We got distracted and just got separated from the person with us."

"It was Cappi's fault," Leo interupted, "I tried to pull us away from the chocolate but he insisted we keep looking."

"Do you remember the store?" the boy tries to ask, but is shouted over by the other puppet.

"It was not, I saw something Angie would like so I pointed her to it, that's all."

"You just wanted to make her get it for yourself."

"We would have shared it with you, too."

As the puppets start bumping into eachother and argue, a sound is heard from down the street. "Stop! Stop her!" Just then, a man starts shouting at them, he's dressed in a store clerk uniform as he's running towards them.

"Oh no, run," the girl shouts with Cappi's voice.

Before the boy can even say anything, the Lamia speeds past him as the lion bites onto him. It is just a puppet but the grip is so strong it feels as if an animal is biting into him. The boy is dragged off his bike and pulled along with her as she quickly slithers away from the man. The boy shouts, "Wait, what's going on?" but none of the heads pay attention to him.

"He's still chasing us," Angie yells, "Cappi, take care of it."

"I'm on it." As they pass by a trash bin, the Lamia swings her left arm into the side of it.

Even though the bin seemed heavy, impossible for a human to move on their own, it goes flying down the sidewalk after a hit from Angie. The man chasing them is struck by the trash can as the Lamia escapes with the boy.

After a long time having to keep up with the snake girl, the group comes to a stop in the park. The lion hand releases the human as she lays herself on a nearby bench.

Angie huffs out of breath for all of her personalities, "I think we lost him," trying to sound like Cappi before noticing the puppet got crumpled from the impact and fixing it with the other puppet.

The boy dusts himself off, still holding onto the bag of food he had gotten, "What was that about?"

"After we lost our host, this guy has just been chasing us."

"Maybe he's trying to help?"

"Impossible," Leo shouts, "He accused us of stealing and tried to grab us, luckly I got us out of there safely before Cappi took things too far."

"Hey, I was just trying to protect Angie," Cappi squeeked.

"You're probably the one who stole the chocolate in the first place," Leo then pushes the goat puppet away from it before it bumps back into it.

"Guy's stop fighting, now's not the time," Angie tiredly says moving her face between them.

The whole time the boy is just staring at the Lamia fighting with her own hands, even if she is half chimera it looks pretty stupid. He sits on an empty spot on the bench next to her, setting his bag between them, "Angie, focus. I want to help you find your family but you need to keep your... friends under control."

"Uh, I'm trying, but these two just can't agree on anything."

"Okay, Cappie, Leo thinks you stole chocolate from the store?"

"That's a lie! He's always blaming anything bad that happens to Angie on me."

"You're the only one who could have done it," Leo shouts as his hand rushes towards the goat puppet, just before the boy separates them with his hand.

"Now Leo, both of you care about Angie, why would either of you cause problems for her?"

"Well..." the lion takes a moment to think.

"You're both part of the same person," the boy says, "you should work together rather than blame each other." The two puppets look to one another in silence as the boy continues, "Angie controls the rest of the body so you two should give her with advice to help all of you. Fighting doesn't make anything easier for any of you."

"I guess you're right," Leo says looking down, "Angie I want to appologize..." As he looks back to the Lamia, the boy looks with him to see Angie with her head inside his food bag. Her face then pops out with an eggroll hanging from her mouth as everyone, even the puppets, stare at her.

"Angie!" Cappi shouts in shock. "What are you doing?"

She bites the eggroll in half before responding, "I was hungry."

"Were you the one who stole the chocolate and got us into this mess?" Cappi then bumps into the snakes head.

"You made it look so good and I wanted one, or a few," she bumps him back before they continue slapping each other in the head.

The boy can't do anything but watch as a Lamia argues with a goat puppet on her hand and smacks herself in the head. Even if she is half chimera it just looks stupid. He then notices Leo was only watching from the side, giving him the idea to slip the puppet off the Lamia's hand. She barely noticed, revealing a bulky hand with black scales and sharp claws.

Angie shouts back at Cappi, "You wanted that chocolate more than any of us, even Leo took a long look at it, right?" She makes a deep grunt before wiggling her fingers and then notices, "Leo?" Looking to the boy, he starts putting on the puppet and getting used to the feel of it.

He speaks through the lion puppet, trying to get the voice right, "Angie, you need to take responsibility for your own actions."

"L-Leo?"

"Cappi and I can't do anything for you. We're just voices in your head, we can help but you need to make the choices for us."

"But it's hard choosing, I can't listen to all the voices at the same time."

Cappi talks, "Sometimes I'm not always right. I can stick with something for a long time but a lot of the time Leo is good at keeping us out of trouble and making me stop. For all our sake, you need to be the one to act for us."

"What was your plan when you ran after stealing from the store?" the boy asks with Leo.

"I-I was hoping we would just wander home with the human and everything would be fine."

"Could you really face our host after stealing from the store?" Leo says.

"Well..." she thinks to herself, starting to tear up, "but we all wanted the chocolate."

"We all did," Leo says, patting her head, "but we knew we couldn't have it or taking it would have been bad for all of us. We can't do anything for you but you need to consider the cocnsequences of what actions you take and not just blame who's idea it was."

"Angie?" a voice from beside them, it's the store worker from before.

Angie runs, this time over to hug him crying, "I'm sorry."

The man returns the hug and pats her head, "It's alright, everything will be okay."

The boy walks up to the two holding the lion puppet in his hand, "Could you help her find her host family, I need to get back to my own demi-human."

"Find her host?" the man replies, "I'm her caretaker, I had her work at the shop but when she just ran off after. I've been looking for her for a long while."

"So she ran off and asked me to find you so she could find..."

"I'm sorry," Angie sobs, "I wasn't thinking."

The boy gives up trying to understand her childish minds, but before leaving he notices he still has one of her puppets, "Oh, here's Leo. I hope you didn't mind borrowing him." She turns to him and reaches out her arm as he slides it back on.

"Are you alright Leo?"

"It felt strange... but not wrong. He'd make a good lion head."

The man and Lamia leave heading back to the store. The boy grabs his bag and begins a long walk back to his bike. Hopefully Atrea's not too upset her food's late and cold. Luckly he didn't make any promises on the eggroll.


	15. Chapter 14

Ch 14

"What is this place again?" Atrea asks as they arive outside the building they've been walking to.

"It's an arcade," the boy answers, "I was thinking of something new we could do that humans are known for and I though of video games."

"Can't we just play games at home?" She moans as her legs are getting tired from the long walk.

"I don't have a game console, besides I thought it'd be more fun if we could play together."

"Video games are something humans and yet you don't play them?"

"No, I just don't want us crowded around my PC. Besides, I haven't been to an arcade and want to see what it's like while you see what video games used to be like."

The two enter the arcade. The enterance is dim but as they enter the main room, the area is illuminated by flashing lights from machines all around the room. Atrea stares around in awe at all the colors, "What is all this?" she had never seen anything like it before.

Meanwhile the boy uses a machine by the enterance to exchange some bills for quarters. "This is one of mankind's greatest achievements," he says trying sound dramatic. "Through the mastery of electricity and programing, we have created countless games and distractions to do nothing but waste time and obsess over high scores."

"Lets do this one first," Atrea says as she goes over to a claw machine, looking at the piles of dolls at the bottom.

"What? No, Atrea those are just a scam..." he tries to gently pull her away from the machine and to something more interesting but she has her mind set on it.

Atrea starts moving the stick around and pressing buttons, "How does it work?"

The boy sighs and puts two quarters in, "You move the claw at the top and press the button and it might grab a prize."

As the timer starts, Atrea gets used to how the claw moves it to a place and pressing the button. The claw drops onto the doll she wanted as she stares with glee but then retracts back up without even trying to grab it. "What?" she shouts, "how could it not grab that?"

"That's what I was trying to say, these are some of the worst games, the only reason they exist is because kids keep dumping money into them not knowing it's a scam. You could play twenty games and not get anything just because it doesn't want you to."

"You mean to say all these games are just to cheat money of their money?"

"Well, the others are more fun," he says nervously, "I promise, there are games are are a lot more fun than this and worth the money you put in." He pulls her away from the claw machines and towards some of the other games. After a short look around, one very large game cabinet resting in the center of the room catches both of their attention, nearly twice the size of anything else in the arcade. The entire thing is decorated in bright colors showing demi-humans in fighting poses, on the top it has screens showing a two player fighting game as it's being played.

Atrea asks first, "How about that one?"

"Sure, lets go see if it's available." As they approach, the boy notices two people are already using it, a Centaur and a human. Not wanting to interupt them, the boy politely asks them, "Mind if we have the next game?"

The centaur turn around first before locking eyes with Atrea, "Oh, it's you," making a rather crossed face.

The boy is initally shocked by her response but on closer inspection, she does seem familiar. With chestnut hair tied into a braid, a cute face, and noticably large breasts, it's the same wandering Centaur from one rainy day weeks ago. "Oh, Shei... Shannon?" the boy stammers as he tries to remember her name.

"Her name is Shevaun," the human says, a male with short wavy blond hair and a red shirt, "you know her?"

"Know her? She tried to steal my house," Atrea interjects, returning the look the Centaur is giving her.

"I see," the blond boy says, "she just came to my house one day and said I was a worthy master for her to live with. So I decided why not, it could be fun to see what living with a Centaur is like."

"I was right to keep looking, he knows martial arts and beat your master in a fight any day."

"Wanna bet?" Atrea hisses, ready to grab the boy and throw the boy into them.

"Hold on, no one's fighting," he interrupts, "I just wanted to ask if we could play a game after you two. I wanted to show my Arachne some video games and this one caught her attention."

"You like it?" the blond boy responds, "They just got it today, it plays a bit like Street Fighter but they redesigned it to feature different demi-humans. It's even in a new extra big cabinats for larger demi-humans. But sure if you two want to play together we can take a break."

"I've got a better idea," Shevaun blurts out, "how about me and the spider go against each other."

"Why would I want to play with you?"

"It's a fighting game, we can't battle here but nothing's stopping us from competing in a virtual game. I challenge you to a duel, best of three, do you accept or are you a coward?"

Atrea's stare sharpens hearing those words, "I'm no coward, I accept your challenge. We fight using these electric creatures, and whoever wins gets the loser's master."

"Absolutely not!" the two humans shout.

"How about instead of fighting over us, the winner gets something simple like bragging rights?"

"No, I agree with her, I also want something if I win," Shevaun says.

Atrea looks down after her suggestion was rejected, but is then hit with some inspiration. She points back at the claw machines by the entrance, "Loser has to win a prize from one of those scam games and give it to the winner."

The two boys shake their head, wanting to keep gambling out of this competition, but the Centaur shouts enthusiastically, "I accept these terms."

"One more thing," Atrea says, "I want to watch the boy play first against yours, whatever his name is."

"I'm fine with that too. Now, let the battle begin."

The blond boy groans, "My name is Joshua by the way."

The two humans set themselves up, each puts in a quarter and prepare for a two player match. Joshua switches between between a few characters before settling on a British Harpy, meanwhile the boy is unsure who to pick, it all looks new to him and he's only played a few fighting games.

"Hey, pick the Arachne," Atrea whispers to him.

Not knowing who else to pick, he chooses the Arachne from Brazil. "Is he any good?" he asks Joshua.

"He's something like Blanka. Takes a lot of effort to get him right but even then not better than anyone else."

The match starts, the boy tries to fight back but he's blocked and beaten any time the two get close. He tries to use his special attacks but only gets off a little bit of damage before getting smacked around. It's clear to everyone the match is one sided with Joshua winning.

"Well, good game," Joshua says.

Shevaun gently pushes her way forward, "My turn to win now."

With the large cabinet size, the two demi-humans are able to easily stand next to each other without getting into each other's space. As they pick their characters, Shevaun quickly chooses a Jiangshi, a Chinese bouncing vampire with sharp claw weapons on it's hands. Atrea also goes straight for her pick, the same Arachne the boy just used. The boy gets a bad feeling she's about to lose just as bad as he did, maybe even get frustrated afterwards.

The match starts, but Atrea actually does very well, almost as well as Joshua had. Shevaun's character throws a flurry of attacks but they all get blocked as Atrea returns with her own quick attacks. She dodges projectiles and moves across the screen masterfully, moves the boy had just thrown out to try and do something are used in full combos as she continues to hit Shevaun's character. The boy is stunned by this display, "Atrea, have you played this before?"

"Never, but I saw you play with the controller and payed attention. I've got an idea what this person is capable of."

After two knockouts, Atrea wins the first round just as easily as the boy had lost. Shevaun growls, "You must have cheated. You've never played this game and yet you're that good?"

"It's just reflexes and reading your opponent, it's not cheating when you throw yourself at me so quickly. All I needed was for the boy to show me how this person moves."

The Centaur grunts as she picks a character for the second game, she then switches to an American Human with boxing gloves and a hoodie over his head. They play another match but like the first one, Atrea plays very well taking advantage of any time Shevaun moves forward with her guard down.

Atrea wins the second round and lets out a big shout, "Yes! I win."

Shevaun furiously grabs a handful of quarters and goes to the claw machines with a sour look on her face.

Joshua simply applauds Atrea, "That was pretty good, especially for a first time."

"You were right boy, these games are fun. How about you and me play against each other?"

"I don't know," he says reluctantly, "you saw I'm not all that good at these sorts of things, it'd take a while before I'm on your level."

"Oh well, I guess maybe I can beat that Centaur at her own game again."

"I'd hardly call her a master," Joshua says, "we only started playing today, I was still teaching her how to play efficiently."

Atrea looks back at him, her joy replaced with a subtle concern, "Huh?"

Just as they're talking, Shevaun walks back with a stuffed dog. "Here's your prize," she says as she shoves it into Atrea's arms.

Everyone stares as she had returned so quickly. Atrea speaks up, "Hang on, how did you get this so quickly. I though those things were a scam, twenty games and still nothing."

"Eh, you get lucky sometimes," she says casually, "You won the duel because you're a fast learner but I'm confident I can still beat you in the long run, especially with my human teaching me." She begins to walk off before calling to Joshua, "Come master, lets do some racing games again."

As the two walk away, Atrea looks at her prize and can't help but feel bitter towards the Centaur. Her excitement from winning has passed hearing her opponent wasn't that good to begin with, but also she beat her at the claw machine. This will not stand. "Boy, give me some quarters, I'm going back to those machines until I master them."

"Atrea please, no," he begs, "I already told you, it's all luck."


	16. Chapter 15

Ch 15

The boy returns home after some time out, coming home to see Atrea laying her large spider body across the couch as she watches TV when

"Hey boy, did you know Harpies are actually sending us their worst members."

The boy looks over to see she's watching a political news channel, "I think you've been watching the news too much, it's rotting your brain," he says as he reaches for the remote and changes it to cartoons, "But anyway, have you heard there's a Culture Festival coming soon." From under his arm he shows her a decorated sheet of paper.

Atrea grabs the paper and looks at it for a bit, still unable to read any of it, "What, some kind of... painting party?"

"No, they're letting different demi-humans set up stands to show others sort of how they live and what they like to do."

She sets the leaflet down on the table and turns back to the TV, "Eh, I'd rather not go somewhere too crowded. Could we go somewhere else for human stuff?"

"Well, I thought you'd be excited to find some other Arachne and plan something with them. Sort of like how I've shown you what a human town is like, you could help show everyone how Arachne live with each other. You could even ask them to let you work in the back if crowds are a problem."

Atrea lets out a soft moan before turning back to the boy, she explains, "Arachne don't really live with each other. We're sometimes close or in the same area but there's nothing like an 'Arachne village'. I don't think we'd be able to think of anything interesting to show how we live."

The boy looks disappointed as he looks back at the sheet, "Wouldn't you be interested in meeting other Arachne? Just knowing who's in the area?"

"Do you just go out and meet every human who lives by you?" before the boy has a chance to answer she snaps back, "On second thought, I don't care. Arachne just don't do that, I don't care if someone around me is also an Arachne or we do similar stuff, I just care if they're getting in my business."

Disappointment overcomes him, he was excited at the idea of getting Atrea to go to the event and maybe meet other Arachne but she seems to have dismissed the idea entirely, "Could we at least go together? Even if you're not working we could just go and see other demi-humans and whatever they have to offer."

"I don't want to go anywhere too crowded," she says, shaking her head, "I don't like having too many people around me, feels like I have to talk with them all."

"Yeah, I'm sort of the same, it's just..."

The two go quiet for a moment before their silence is interrupted by a knock at the door. Just as the boy walks over to answer it, the door opens on it's own.

"Pardon me sir, I heard you're keeping an Arachne in your home," a round looking middle aged man with light blue hair, thick glasses and a lab coat takes a step into the home before being greeted. Looking around he quickly sees Atrea and approaches her with excitement.

Atrea simply looks back as the strange short man suddenly gets into her space, she responds in a puzzled voice, "Who are you?"

"I am Professor S. A. Tanner, I've been doing research on various demi-humans and was interested in observing the behavior of one of your kind in an urban setting."

"Huh? Boy, what's he talking about?"

The boy steps between the two trying to put some distance between Atrea and the stranger, "He says he's a smart person who wants to see how you've been living in my house."

"Why would he want that?"

"Simple," the man says adjusting his glasses, "studying Arachne in the wild can be rather difficult and a lot of work, so it's easier to observe the ones who have chosen to become homestays in human homes. However even those are somewhat rare, so when I noticed you among a list of other demi-humans I rushed to this address not wasting any time."

"Do humans barge into other's homes often?" Atrea groans as he continues to move his head around the boy to see her directly.

"Atrea, people don't know a lot about Arachne and he's excited to learn about them."

As the boy is talking, the man wanders off up the stairs leaving the others behind, "I heard you creatures enjoy making nests in dark spaces. Is there an attic somewhere around here?"

The boy shouts up at him, "Hey, where are you going?" He follows the intruder as he already notices some string hanging out through the hatch to the attic. Atrea soon gets up and trails behind them. A scream is suddenly heard from the above, when the boy catches up he finds the man on the floor covered in webbing after stepping over a tripwire.

"Sorry, she still leaves traps around her space." The boy quickly gets down on his knees and starts tearing off some webbing to free the man.

"Oh no it's fine," as the man is freed he starts picking up the threads and putting them in his coat pockets, "spider silk is rather valuable, people pay a lot for it."

"So, you came here to steal my silk?" Atrea says looking from the trap door, staring at the man grabbing it off the floor and himself.

He quickly spits out a response, "Uh, no I wanted to use it for research. I've heard it's as strong as steel even for it's small width and like I said it's hard to find an Arachne willing to sell their silk and..."

Atrea continues her glare towards the man as she steps up into the room.

"Oh are those dolls yours?" he barks, quickly pointing to a shelf with stuffed animals and silk figures resting on it, the man crawls away from Atrea.

"Oh yeah," the boy adds, "it's the first thing I learne-"

"Don't change the subject," Atrea snaps back at the boy as she stamps over to grab the strange man poking through her stuff.

"I-It's just," he stutters looking over the collection, coming to a figure of an elephant, "they look a lot like another person's work I've seen. Someone I knew very well"

She tries to keep up her stare, "Really now?"

"Yes, another Arachne who made dolls like these, they were a lot older but you sort of remind me of them. Now that I think about it you two might be related, like maybe... a mother?"

Atrea raises an eyebrow hearing this, "You met Siyah?"

"Oh yes, I've known her for a long time. I couldn't tell you where she is now but I remember seeing her only a few months ago. She loved making dolls just like this and always said she wished she could meet her daughter and give them to her personally."

Atrea smiles a bit, "If you did meet my mother, I think there's something you should know," she signals him to come closer to her, wanting to whisper something in his ear.

The man eagerly inches over to Atrea, holding his ear open for what she had to say, listening for what she had to say to him...

"My mother's dead." The man's expression shrinks as his eyes widen, he backs away and looks to see as Atrea's friendly smile has grown into an evil grin, he's been found out. "You're not a smart man at all, are you?" He backs even further away, only for Atrea to slowly creep towards him. He quickly turns, dashing for the trapdoor out hopefully to get to the door of the house. But just as he puts his foot out for the ladder, it's caught in something sticky in the air. He now sees she had set up a web over the attic exit, it's too late to catch his balance as he tumbles into the web and down the ladder. He continues to flail but is already tangled in the threads, he can only struggle on the floor as he slowly gets his vision back, seeing the large black spider looking down on him.

"Remember what I said about not liking a lot of people around me, boy?" she calls back up into the attic, "it's because I hates liars." She spins a line of string into a thick rope, tugging it between her arms to test it's strength. "So, what should we do with him?"

"You can't really do anything to him," seeing her preparing to do something she might regret, the boy jumps down to Atrea grabbing her arm, "Even if he is a liar, you can't hurt any humans."

"Oh come on, can't I at least tie him up for a few days,"Atrea whimpers in disappointed.

"No, you tripped him up was more than enough. Just untie him and let him leave."

"Fine," Atrea groans as she cuts the man loose. "But before you leave you have to give back the silk in your pockets."

"Done!" he shouts as he hastily tosses lines of thread from his pockets.

"And your shirt."

"What?"

"You've got a lot of webbing all over it, I can't let you go out and sell any of it."

As the man is about to deny her and just run for the door, her eyes focus on him as he's stunned with fear. In only a second he gives in and lifts off his shirt, "Alright, just don't hurt me."

Just as he's placing the clothing in her claws, "And your wallet," she adds.

"Atrea!" the boy scolds her.

"Oh fine, just get out and don't let me see you around town."

The man scrambles for the exit. Not even bothering to close the door behind him, he dashes down the street away from the house without looking back.

"So who's Siyah if she's not your mother?"

"I made it up, but just the idea he thought he knew my mother was enough to know he's a complete fake."

The boy looks up at Atrea somewhat shocked only for her to look back down at him. "So what is your mom's name?"

"You really don't know? Arachne females die while guarding their eggs. It's impossible for him to have met my mother, especially because I had no chance to meet her." Atrea leaves to get back to her place on the couch, the TV still lit up as she had left it. "Hanging out with you is fun and all but it's still very unusual for me, I don't think I'd ever be this close to someone before, but I'd still rather not go to big crowded places even if it's normal for your kind."

"So you never had a family," the boy says, "that's why you avoid meeting new people or other demi-humans?"

She looks back at him from the couch, looking very tired with one arm hung over the back, "Is that really a strange thing to your kind?"

The boy goes quiet, having nothing to say in response. Looking around he sees the leaflet for the festival on the table. Before leaving he picks it up and says to her, "It's fine if you don't want to go somewhere with a lot of people. To be honest I'm kind of the same way, but the reason I volunteered to have a demi-human live with me was to do something new. We don't have to go to this festival if you really don't want to, but I'm going to keep trying to get you to go out, and someday get you to the point you want to go to these kinds of things just to see something new."

"That's fine by me," she smiles one more time before turning back to the TV. The boy thinks about leaving her but after one step away he stops, turns around to look at the TV, and decides to sit and watch with her, doing something familiar but also hearing the ideas from someone seeing it for the first time.

* * *

(A/N): Sorry this chapter is so very (VERY) late, holidays are going on and I wanted to work harder in my classes, I ended up skipping a post for one week and there are so many things distracting me and I even had some difficulty writing this chapter too, so now it's being put up a week late on Saturday. Just wanted to say I realize it and hope no one's too upset. I might try just doing this every other week so I have more time but it is just me pushing myself to write something on a regular basis. Just so people know I didn't die or give up on this series, I'm just easily distracted.


	17. Chapter 16

Ch 16

On his knees in the front yard, the boy is checking areas along the fence where Atrea has set small spider webs. Every week she sets them up around the house, causing insects to get stuck in them. While having fewer flies and other pests is nice, spiders become a lot more common as they move into the prebuilt webs. After coming across half a dozen black widows around the house, he has decided to start removing these traps straight away. As he crawls through the grass with garden gloves on, in fear of being bitten, he notices a white figure walking up to the house. Their thin body was covered by a mantle formed from their wide insect wings with pieces of fluff showing from the collar, with two feather like growths on their head and a pair of compound eyes, looking a lot like a moth. The boy watched as the figure walked up to examine the front of his house before pressing the doorbell without even noticing him.

Not wanting to keep them waiting the boy stood up, removed his gloves and approached them, "Can I help you?"

In a he replied, speaking with a soft and polite tone sounding noticeably sounding masculine, "Yes, I heard there's an Arachne staying here."

"Are you a friend of Atrea's?"

"No, I just really wanted to meet one. We Mothmen have a... special relationship with Arachne. So while I was here I thought I'd introduce myself personally to one," he says back in a pleasant tune.

"Oh, well there is an Arachne living here. She'll probably come out soon enough but um..." he looks back as the Mothman simply stares at the front door, "should I just open the door for you?"

"No that wont be necessary, I'd like to introduce myself personally."

"Alright," the boy says backing up a little bit.

The door then opens as Atrea looks down at the two, she first notices the Mothman before turning to the boy standing a few feet to the side, "Who's this?"

"At last," in a flash the Mothman's wings unfurl. Two orange eye patterns come into view and hang above him as his thin stick like body is revealed along with a metal spear he had hidden by his side. "Die, monster. Bakuno comes to slay you," he shouts as he swings his weapon over his head towards Atrea. Just as quickly, Atrea catches it in her claw. Holding the blade on the sides, between her thumb and her index, the weapon barely budges as the moth struggles to pull it back.

"Atrea," the boy asks meekly, "are you alright?"

"Yeah, I get these sorts of guys sometimes. Every so often a wasp or butterfly think they can take on a spider on their own and avenger their people or something, it gets annoying." The Mothman pulls on his weapon as hard as he can before losing his grip and falling backwards. Atrea releases her grip letting the weapon fall to the ground, "Look, I'm not in the mood for any of this right now. Just go away and I'll let you get away with your wings intact, I'll even let you keep the stick."

Barely lifting up his head, the moth looks to see Atrea turning away. He scrambles to his feet, trips over himself in the process only to slam his fists against the door as it shuts. "You can't just get rid of me that easily you fiend," he cries out and continues to bang on the door, "Come back and face me, you coward!"

The boy, feeling now's a good time to join in, puts his hand on the moth's shoulder. "Is there something going on between you two, um... Bakuno? I'm sure I can get Atrea to talk about it if she did something wrong."

"There's no talking with these creatures, I came here to slay one before they get the chance to terrorize this world the same way they do in mine."

"Look, I'll let you in but you have to promise not to fight her."

He thinks to himself for a moment and then turns to the boy, "Very well, but I'm taking my spear with me, if she can't convince me not to fight then I'm getting the first hit."

The boy notices the weapon first and reaches for it first, picking it up it feels heavier than he initially thought and looking at the blade something feels off. The boy is shocked to discover it's absolutely real, a real and sharp metal spear. He quickly turns back to Bakuno, "Leave the weapon outside, I can promise Atrea won't attack you unless you attack first."

"Fine." He folds down his wings back into a cloak as the two enter the home.

"Just have a seat over there, can I get you something to drink?"

"Do you have nectar?"

He pausing for a moment, then replies back, "Would orange juice be alright?"

The moth shakes his head.

"I'll just get a glass of water."

Just as the boy is about to leave the room, Atrea crawls down from the stairs. As the moth sits on the couch not even looking at her, she gives a mean look towards him about to shout, just before the boy shoots a look back at her. She gets the idea and remains quiet as the boy ducks into the kitchen. She understands the look clearly, 'Don't do anything you'll regret or you're not getting any sugar for a week'. She looks back to watch the back of the moth's head as it occasionally turns slightly around the room and a few twitches from his antennae.

"You know you can't beat me," the moth spoke first just as she was going to say the exact same thing. "I've come too far to fail in my quest, all I need now is to show that human the monster you really are and we can truly begin our battle."

Atrea was taken back by his comment, all the while he looked forward away from her not even turning to look at her. She replied back, "A weak little thing like you? Maybe you didn't hear me the first time, you hero types are a nuisance not even worth my time, the only reason I didn't tear your wings off right there was because-"

"Because of the human," he interrupts, "isn't that right?"

Atrea pauses, "Well, yeah, he gives me food so I don't have to attack anyone for meals. Even more reason you're unwanted here."

"No, you just don't want to do anything upsetting in front of him, humans don't know what your kind are really like. Even if you fooled these humans I will fight you, and I will either defeat you myself or show your true colors for them to judge. My victory is assured."

"I think you misunderstanding how naive that boy is," Atrea says as she creeps up behind him, setting her claws on the moth's head, "You already attacked first, if I fight he might be upset but I'm sure I can still call it self defense."

"Atrea," the boy shouts as he returns, "He's a guest."

"He's a pest, didn't I just say that before you let him in? He came here to pick a fight and I'll gladly give it to him if he doesn't leave."

"Sit down, I invited him so we could work out your problems and that's what we're going to do."

Crossing her arms she sits herself down in a nearby small chair, barely fitting in it. In the corner of her vision she believes to see the Mothman smile a little but goes it's gone after she shoots a glance directly at him.

The boy sets the glass of water in front of the moth, "Now then, Bakuno, you know Atrea personally?"

"She is a monster who has terrorized my people for years."

"Liar," Atrea hisses from her seat.

"Atrea, let him talk," the boy scolds.

"Even if I can't remember him, I'm certain he's just picking on me because I'm an Arachne. He doesn't care if I did it he just wants to fight someone."

"Hold on. Atrea you don't eat people anyway."

"Well, I did before," she says as her looks away to a corner.

In shock the boy just looks at her.

"What?"

"It's wrong."

"Why? You eat cows and stuff."

"Yeah but... not smart things..." The boy's expression becomes more and more uncomfortable as he thinks to himself. He then looks to the Mothman who's has kept quiet drinking his water. "Okay, Atrea has eaten demi-humans before, but here she doesn't have to and is fine just eating frozen meat. She mostly just keeps to herself so there's no problem."

"No," Bakuno shouted standing up, "the problem is she's an Arachne. Does it not disturb you to live with something like that?"

"What do you mean?"

His expression grows more frustrated, like the boy just doesn't understand anything he's saying, "She's a creature that hides in shadows and devours the innocent without any thought. She even admitted it in front of you, you would let something like that just live in your home?"

Atrea is about ready to stand up and swipe at him when the boy says, "Because I know her better than that."

"What?" Bakuno exclaims.

"After living with Atrea I can see she's more than just a giant spider but an actual person. She's a bit lazy but likes new things, especially movies or stuffed animals. Ever since she arrived she's been slowly getting more interested in what humans have to offer, and that's good enough for me."

"You really think a monster like the Arachne can change just because you have one domesticated?"

"It's not about changing her, it's seeing what she's really like when she doesn't have to eat whatever she can find. That's the reason I invited you in, not to see how I've changed her but to see what Atrea is really like."

The Mothman silently looks over to Atrea, still standing he looks back at the boy before whispering, "I'm sorry to hear that." He swings his glass down on the table edge, smashing it into a sharp shard. The moth's wings spread again as he lunges at the boy. In a sudden reaction he the boy attempts to shield himself with his arms. To his surprise, the glass is caught on his clothes, not even cutting into his arm.

As the two stand frozen in their position, Atrea calmly walks over to the two and effortlessly takes the glass from Bakuno, "I think you should leave."

"Very well," he back off from the boy and walks towards the door, "if you want to live with a spider I'm done trying to convince you."

Before he leaves the boy shouts back, "I'm not living with just a spider, I'm living with Atrea."

"Say what you want, she's still an Arachne." He grabs his spear from outside and disappears as the door slams behind him.

Atrea lets out a gasp of breath before turning back to the boy, "Thanks for sticking up for me. I know I was-"

"It's fine, Atrea." The boy interrupts her, "It's not your fault he didn't want to listen, you could have been a little nicer but I wanted to try to talk things out first."

After hearing that, Atrea gives a soft smile to the boy before turning to go upstairs."

"However," he stops her, "could you stop leaving webs around the house? I'm starting to wish we had roaches instead of more spiders."

"Hey now, you said you weren't trying to change me."

"I'm not, I'm telling you to stop acting like the whole house belongs to you. I'll buy you whatever you want to eat and let you watch movies but you can't just take over the pest control."

"Uh, fine," she groans.


	18. Chapter 17

Ch 17

It's morning just before noon as the boy and spider stand side by side in line at a coffee shop. In front of them is a Lamia looks list of choices, Angie the half Chimera with a goat puppet on her right hand and a lion on her right. As she stares upward she makes small noises but never comes to a decision. Atrea has just met this girl minutes ago but even the boy sees her as very strange The boy had invited her to hang out with them so it felt polite to let her order first but as of now...

"Do you want something cold?"

"Lets ask them to add caramel to it."

"Should we just get a smoothie? No, you can't just do that at a coffee shop."

"How much milk is in a latte?"

It gets harder to tell which of her personalities is speaking as the snake mumbles each of their thoughts.

The boy then tries to tap her shoulder to get her attention, only for the goat, Cappi, to turn around. "Is it alright if we go while you think about what you want?"

The goat puppet nods as Angie continues to whisper to herself, not even turning her head.

The boy and Atrea step around her to make their orders, then find a booth to sit at. Atrea notes to the human, "You humans have a lot of big chairs, I mean I'm glad I can find somewhere to sit but why do you have them?"

"Actually they're newly installed. In addition to places for handicap people, all businesses need to be accessible to larger demi-humans."

"Hmm, how thoughtful."

"You should have seen things before the changes, Centaurs having to stand at every table, Lamia tails going everywhere, and the Scylla..." the boy stops as he feels a chill runs up his leg.

"Sorry we're late," Angie slithers over,

"We didn't know there were so many things you could get at a coffee shop and we all wanted different things," the goat hand added. With Leo holding a tall coffee cup in his mouth the Lamia sits at the same booth across from them.

"What did you get anyways?" the boy asked.

As the lion hand places the cup down on the table he responds in his deep voice, "Dark roast, we came to a decision I would choose and I went with hot coffee without much added. How about you two?"

The boy answered first, "I got a mocha. I usually don't like coffee much but adding chocolate makes it a little more interesting for me."

Atrea followed up, "Decaf. He wouldn't let me have too much caffeine."

"Well lets enjoy ourselves, Cappi if you'd be so kind." The right hand goat puppet reaches across to grab the coffee. Angie takes a moment to close her eyes before slowly raising cup to drink it, sounding very pleased in her Leo voice.

Atrea reaches over to the boy with her hand to whispers to him, "Is this girl messing with us?"

The boy just looks back at the Lamia, "I don't think she is." He just sips his own coffee and relaxes himself. Atrea then stops thinking about it all and does the same.

Angie opens her eyes back up and looks over at the two, "So what do we do next?"

"Huh?" Atrea responds.

"Like, did we just come here to get bitter drinks and look at each other or does something happen?"

"Umm... Well..." the boy wants to answer her but can't think of anything.

It then hits Atrea, "Oh no, we're stuck here doing nothing until we finish our coffee."

Everyone has a panicked look on their face, they've fallen into the trap and now they can't do anything but talk to one another.

"Alright calm down," the boy says, "we can just talk about something like... um..." he just draws a blank.

"How about that weather?" Angie speaks up, trying to add something.

Cappi then responds to her, "There's nothing interesting about the weather, it's been clear all month. Same as every year."

Atrea lets out a frustrated groan and nudges the human next to her, "Let me out, I need to stretch my legs."

"No, we can't leave the booth or it'll look really weird."

"Would anyone really care?" Angie raises herself up to look around to see if anyone she knew was also in the coffee shop. While she did see a couple people around the place it was no one she recognized.

"Stop that, it's impolite to stare." She's is gently pulled back down down by the boy into her seat. "We'll just have to sit here perfectly still."

"What have we gotten ourselves into?" Leo says, "All we can do is talk and there's nothing interesting to talk about. This place is horrible."

"Hey boy, can I have some of your caffeine, I need a downer," Atrea begged him.

"Sure, and if you don't mind I'd like to have some of yours." The two trade coffee cups, Atrea getting a more caffeinated drink to help her forget and the boy less caffeine so his mind can wander.

Everyone is miserable and bored with their situation, until suddenly a crash is head on the other side of the store. "Give Eda back nickle." After crashing through a window into the store, a Harpy is squawking at the cashier woman. The disturbance of something exciting happening draws everyone's attention.

"Ma'am, I don't know what you're talking about but please, calm yourself."

"Yesterday Eda bought smoothie here with coins and accidentally gave away lucky nickle. Eda want back." She then tosses a mess of coins and other thin metals at the worker. "Eda give you any coin you want, just give back nickle."

The three people in their booth can't help but stare at the scene in silence, Atrea especially enjoying the scene with a smile on her face as she leans out to get a better look.

After picking up the dimes and bottle caps to throw back at the cashier the harpy takes a look around and notices Atrea staring at her. "You, spider. What looking at?"

"Oh don't mind me I'm just enjoying the show," she calls out before taking a sip of her coffee, taken back from the boy.

"Eda does mind, this isn't spider's business. Give us privacy while making withdrawal."

"Come on just let us watch," Angie pokes her head out too.

Even the boy is looking over, "If you're going to make a lot of noise you might as well let people see."

The harpy shouts back at them, "It's Eda's business only, no one else's."

As the harpy is distracted, a hand reaches around and places itself on her forehead. "Sleep now," the cashier woman has placed her hand on the Harpy before it ignites with blue flame, two animal ears grow from the woman's blond hair and multiple tails begin to appear. The Harpy's eyes grow tired before her body falls to the ground.

The group remain speechless before Leo speaks up, "Is this how coffee shops normally work?"

"No," the boy answers, "I think this was a one time thing."

"Three, four, five tails," Angie say, "she's a real fox woman."

The woman picks up the Harpy before turning to the group, still with her fox-like ears and tails fluffing about, "Sorry about that, this girl has been attacking random shops all day, took us a while to figure out the exact pattern. Thanks for the distraction though, Harpies aren't especially strong minded but it's hard to charm one when they're so worked up."

Something about the woman seemed familiar to the boy, it's changed somewhat since when he first ordered but now it feels as if he had seen her before. Then it hit him, it's the same fox woman from the park."

"Well, enjoy your coffee. I've got to take care of this one before she wakes up." She leaps out through the front door gracefully as group see her off only to return to their seats.

"It's boring again." After a long silence Atrea can't help but state how they're back where they started.

As everyone starts to feel sad again, the boy starts talking, "Remember how she just caught fire like that."

"Yeah, that was fun to watch," Atrea says as her mood starts to lighten up. "How did she do that anyway? I heard some Demi-humans can shapeshift but not really magic."

Angie responds, "Well, it's probably all illusion stuff. I've also heard some can control peoples minds like she did so it's not all that strange."

"Is that normal? That seemed more like magic."

"Well she is hundreds of years old," Leo answers, "Japanese foxes, or Kitsune, get more powerful as they age growing more tails. Angie even counted them. Also there are a lot of Demi-humans with strange abilities."

The group continued to talk about foxes and other demi-human, long after they finished their coffee. While the meeting started very uninteresting, it took one sudden burst of action they had all witnessed to become good friends. Atrea still sees Angie as a strange Lamia person, and is still unsure if she really is part Chimera or just crazy, but was glad to have taken time to meet and talk with her and the boy.


	19. Interlude, MON Chapter

Interlude, M.O.N. Chapter

It's been another busy morning. Mr. Jones is driving his black car, taking sips from a plastic coffee cup resting in the cup holder and keeping himself exactly 7 miles above the speed limit even though he's in a hurry. There's been a disturbance and demi-humans are involved, meaning he's now responsible for working it out. He's already called the team to get in position be ready, now he just has to get there, another busy morning. All these laws make things a lot more complicated. Plenty of demi-humans do live honestly without him having to keep a close eye on them, but he always seems to end up seeing the ones that act like monsters.

Mr. Jones turns into the shopping lot, the small book store being held up is already covered in blinking lights and yellow tape as police surround it from all sides. He quickly parks in an open space and rushes to the command post, so quickly he forgot his coffee back in his car. No time to go back for it, he'll just help himself to some of their coffee. Making his way through the police line, flashing his badge a few times, and slips into the meeting tent without anyone noticing.

As he slides over to the coffee, he over hears the other officers talking, "They closed the shop's curtains so we can't directly assess the situation. All we know is there are roughly four orcs with a lamia leading them, all armed with guns smuggled into the country and taken four employees hostage."

"What are their demands?" another officer asks.

"They've stopped answering calls and denied any chance of surrender, last we heard from them they wanted a clear path to escape out of the country with their hostages. Obviously we can't give them that but they've turned down all negotiations."

"Grr, if they weren't protected under the Extraspecies Laws we could just go in there and solve this already. Where's that good for nothing agent?"

At that moment, Mr. Jones speaks up, "Don't worry, that's why I'm here." They all turn, everyone finally notice Mr. Jones sitting in the corner sipping from a cup. "Ugh! This coffee is awful."

"Now's not the time for drinking coffee," one of the officers calls to him, "Mr. Jones, are your people capable of resolving this issue?"

"Don't worry, everyone's just about in place."

Another officer looked out at the police line, all he can see are the same men since they last set up. "You don't seem to have even brought anyone with you."

Mr. Jones only gave a small grin, "Oh they're already working their way in. They'll deal with these demi-humans in no time. There are only four but all very capable. And since they're also demi-humans, no laws will be broken."

Meanwhile inside the bookstore, the bulky pig-like orcs are on edge pacing around to stay calm. The curtains are all closed so no one can see in and the hostages are all huddled into a corner to keep an eye on them. Even with total control within the store, there's still keep feeling tense as they just wait in silence, constantly hearing noises from the air conditioning.

"I swear something's moving up there," one of the orcs says to another.

"You've been saying that all day and nothing's come down. It's too hot to turn it off so we'll just have get used to it."

The humming and banging continue, just more of the same sounds beating in the orc's head. The humming gets louder to die down shortly after, more clicks and banging. Then suddenly a large crashing sound is heard just above his head, much louder than any of the other sounds that had been going on. "That's it, I'm shooting whatever's up there." He cocks his gun ready to unload at the ceiling before another orc pulls his hand off the trigger.

"Are you crazy? You start shooting that'll just call the police in here. It's bad enough they're all over us we don't need to give them a reason to speed things up."

As they're talking one more orc calls out from a back room, "Hey, I found another human hiding in back." The orc walks out dragging a small girl with him shivering with fear, barely up to the orc's waist.

"I thought we already scared off the customers. Could she have sneaked in?"

"Don't be stupid. The whole place is surrounded by police, what idiot would sneak in?"

The girl tries to pull herself away from the orc, "Please, let me go. You're hurting me."

"Come on, I'm not holding you that tight. Just sit there with the others until-" As soon as the orc looses his grip a little, the girl runs off from him towards the windows and pulls down the curtains.

"What do you think you're doing?" One of the orcs tries to grab the girl by the shoulder. As soon as he puts his hand on her it lights up with blue flames. Five fox tails sprout from her lower body as the girl grows in size, she had revealed herself as a shape shifting kitsune. She turned to look back at the orcs, her face now completely different, more mature and burning blue eyes.

Then there's a radio buzz from her, "Kuugen, could you tone it down, I can't see with your tails flying all over the place."

Blushing a little, she grabs a walkie talkie from her pocket. "Mizryn, I'm in the middle of something. Just shoot their guns already or something."

The radio buzzes back, "I can't shoot them if your throwing those flames around."

She looks over at the orcs for a moment, her tails fluff to the floor and the fires go out in an instant, "One moment please." She then goes right back to her partner on the other end, "Really, some little fires are getting in the way of your aim?"

The orcs just look as she argues over the radio before one of them grabs their rifle, "Enough of this, die you bitch!" Just as he's about to unload his gun into her, a bullet comes in through the window. With pinpoint precision, it managed to fly between the foxes large ears and hit the orc's trigger finger, severing it before he had a chance to fire. As he screams in pain, a second shot soon follows destroying his gun. Then another smashing through another one of their guns, and another.

"I wouldn't make any sudden movements if I were you," the kitsune said, "my friend and I don't get a long too well but she can shoot a fly off the wall from a mile away. Now if we can get the hostages out of here..."

The orcs with their weapons destroyed find cover. "Where's she shooting from?"

"I can't see anyone out in the crowd, they must be miles away."

* * *

About half a mile away, with sight on the now open window, a sniper lays in the shade on a rooftop. A female dark elf with dusky gray skin and long snowy white hair tied into a ponytail, normally she acts as a commando for these kinds of situations, sneaking into enemy territory and sowing chaos. But with a certain cyclops out with a case of pink eye, she's here today as the sniper. Not that she's not great at that either but the sun tends to get in her eyes a lot worse than for others. Fortunately it's just the right time of day, only a soft breeze to adjust for and the sun's behind her allowing her perfect vision over the scene.

"You done yet?" she snarks back at her fox partner through a walkie talkie, "Just untie them so we can move on." Watching the whole thing, she sees she's still messing around at the window. Just chattering back on the radio even after she's had the fox's audio off. The orcs are already unarmed so just go already.

Just then in the corner of her view, one of the orcs pulls out another rifle from behind a counter. A few quick adjustments and BANG, it's destroyed. One of the other orcs looks like he's ready to charge her, BANG, a shot to the ankle. Even with these kinds of bullets an orc should be just fine recovering from that kind of injury, but she's been told they need to get everyone out alive. Though she always likes to start things off by sending a message, like shooting off someone's finger off.

After a long time waiting, the fox has finally untied the hostages. The orcs are now too scared to make any movements, everything's going smoothly. Now it's time to make an escape. "Marcus, you there? It looks like Kuugen has the hostages freed."

Her raidio buzzes back, a gruff masculine voice is on the other end, "Loud and clear, I'm going in."

Not long after an explosive boom goes off at the building she's watching. Dust pours in from the side, that's probably him. Nothing else to do but keep watch in case they pull any more guns. Just her laying on this rooftop watching from afar.

* * *

Back in the book store, the dust begins to settle. Something huge just crashed into a wall making a big hole. A huge metallic body starts stomping in, covered in metal like a big suit of armor with wide horns on top and holding a huge battering ram. The body is human like but much bigger and the head starts to look more like a bull's as it comes into view, it's a Minotaur under that armor. The hostages have just been freed but now this thing looks more terrifying than the orcs.

"Alright people, time to get out of here," the metal Minotaur signals to them. Before long they get the idea he's here to help and run out the hole he's made. The orcs try to follow before he body blocks the way out, shoving them back.

"We're losing our hostages," one of the orcs cries, "what do we do now?"

Another panics before pointing back at the kitsune, "Get her, if we team up we could still hold her down."

Just as they're about to gang up on her, "MEOW!" Something brown and furry drops out of the air vents onto one of the orcs. Clinging and scratching him, the thing just becomes a blur on his face. The orc screams and flails trying to get it off as it flies around his body. They see him attacked by a small cat girl, as it claws at their friend they want to get it off but at the same time they don't want it passing over to them. Having lost focus, in no time the kitsune and Minotaur have them surrounded and arrest the four orcs.

As they arrest the last orc, the kitsune prys off the monster cat stuck on him. "Alright Bast," the kitsune says, "it's time to let go." With one last tug she gets the cat off.

"Can't I stay on him a little longer?" she whines.

"No no, we're working right now." She puts the cat down before turning to the orc. "Alright, where's your boss? The lamia."

The orc looks nervous, sweating bullets, "I-I don't know, she's probably hiding somewhere."

"We've already searched the whole building," the Minotaur replied, "no one here but you four."

"Well maybe she left," another orc says as their eyes dart around. "You don't know, she could have gotten through the police."

The kitsune looks away for a moment trying to find a hint where the lamia they're looking for could be before she notices the blue blood from the orc who's finger got shot off. Something's very off here, she knows it. She quickly turns back to the orcs, "I'm only going to ask one more time, who's your boss?"

"We already told you it's a red lamia with an eye patch, she answered the phone a fe-" as he's talking, the kitsune snaps her fingers and the orc bursts into flames. He starts screaming but she leaves the flames on him for a while. Everyone stares in horror before seeing something happening, the orc starts to melt into a white blob. His beady eyes grow into large black ovals and the white mess starts to form a slim humanoid. The orc has shrunk into something that looks like a human but much thinner features and unusually pale skin, long wavy white hair grows out from what used to be a bald head.

"Dopplegangers," the kitsune say as she removes the flames. She turns to the others with her arm stretched out and fingers ready to snap before they all meld into their own forms.

One of them speaks up, "We were just here as a distraction, we didn't mean to hurt anyone."

The fox grabs one of them by the neck, "Who's your boss? Who set you up to this?"

The doppleganger stutters, "I-It was a dark elf. That's all I'm allowed to say. Please, I have a family to look after."

"Tell us all you know." The sniper has come down to the shop, now glaring down at the doppleganger.

* * *

 **A/N:** Sorry if chapter numbers are getting confusing. It's been a little weird since 5.5 (I don't have a problem with how it turned out, just what's happening with the numbers, and now I'm doing this). If there's a big problem I'll think of something. Otherwise, I want to get Ch 20 Ch 18 done soon.


	20. Chapter 18

Ch 18

Still groggy from waking up, the boy stumbling down the stairs early in the morning. While he enjoys staying up late, he's been trying to get Atrea to be less nocturnal herself. Therefore he's having to force himself to make breakfast on time even while tired. The sun has just risen outside as small rays find their way through closed blinds over the windows, dimly lighting the home.

"You really need to get some better tea." As he enters the kitchen he hears a woman sigh. He's caught off guard, it's not Atrea and no one else is living here, so he said that? Over at the dining table, he notices a dark figure sipping from a glass. It looks somewhat familiar, a body much like human but short and much slimmer, dim gray skin blending into the shadows and snow white hair. It's clearly a dark elf, likely the M.O.N. officer he's met a few times, however as the boy's vision adjusts it starts to become apparent this isn't the same woman.

He walks over to her, "Who are you?" Along with her hair being much shorter and slightly different facial features, he also notices she's not in uniform, she's wearing a dark dress covered in spider web designs and black leggings over her crossed legs.

The woman takes another drink before answering cheerfully, "No one special, I heard you have an Arachne living here," she says turning to him with her red eyes and a wide smile, "so I thought I'd stop by and see for myself."

The boy gets a bad feeling, something about her feels wrong. Not to mention, dark elves are known for their bitterness towards Arachne. He responds to her, "Could you wait outside for a bit? Atrea's probably still asleep this early in the morning and I'd rather she get more sleep at night than disturb her."

"Oh don't worry about it, I'll wait right here for her."

Starting to get frustrated, the boy puts his hand down on the table as he talks down to her, "Now see here, this is my house and you just let yourself in without asking, could you please just-"

As he's talking, a red dagger flies from the woman's as she strikes it through the sleeve of his shirt and into the table. The boy tries to pull himself back but ends up tripping to his knees. Now the dark elf looks down at him with a sinister look, "Now you see human, I'm here on important business. I know you have an Arachne living here and I don't have much time to talk with her. If you could please call her down or tell me where she is it'd be much easier for both of us."

The boy tries to get up just as she pushes him back down. He's pinned down by her unable to escape. "What do you want with me?"

"Nothing really. I'm just here for the spider girl. But if you keep getting in the way..." she grabs the knife and starts twisting it further into the table. "I'd rather do this without having to hurt you. Just call her down so I can stop wasting time on you."

As the boy looks up at her, glaring down with her red eyes, her face suddenly gets a lot brighter. The window blinds have been opened and the entire room begins to light up, a flash of light comes from behind him with the as the elf's looks straight into the morning light. Her sinister expression becomes very worried as she flings herself back cover her eyes. Screaming in pain she yells, "Aah! The light!"

Looking behind him, the boy sees Atrea beside the window, "What's going on in here? Boy is breakfast almost done?"

"Close it! Close the window!" The dark elf continues screaming until Atrea recloses the blinds and the room darkens again. She removes her hands from her face but still trips over herself, dazed from the sudden light.

"Boy who is this person?"

As he's busy getting the dagger out of the table he answers, "I honestly don't know, she was just here when I walked in. But I think she wanted to talk with you."

"What would a dark elf want with me? She's got nothing nice to say about me and I'm not really fond of her kind either."

The elf pulls herself to the table and grabs a pair of thick sunglasses. "Geez, can't go anywhere without these." As soon as she has her glasses on, she darts over to Atrea. Grabing both of Atrea's hands and clasps them together, she hops up and down joyfully, "It's an honor to meet you, miss Arachne. You're a bit taller than I expected."

"Please let go of me," Atrea says resisting the urge to slash her with her claws.

"Yes ma'am," the elf happily pulls back. "I just wanted to know if you had any plans going to the upcoming culture exhibit." She pulls out a yellow flier and hands it to Atrea, only for her to stare at it unable to read.

The boy walks over to read it for her, "The Drow-Merfolk Drama Production?"

"We dark elves and the mermaids are doing a joint project for the festival. A little play with help from both parties."

Atrea looks over to the boy with an upset look, "You really want me to go to that thing, don't you? Even asking strangers to get me to go."

"I told you, I have no idea who this is."

"No no, I'm here on my own," she answers, "I wanted to invite you to star in our performance in a special role."

"You want me for what?"

"She wants you to act in a sort of play," the boy answers,"but Atrea's no actor. Why her of all people?"

"Yeah, why me, an Arachne? Don't you have a slave to do anything you'd want."

"I want you specifically because you're an Arachne," she says, "There aren't many spider people I can get in contact with so I looked up your name and thought you'd make a good fit."

"Hmm, I don't know."

Seeing her apathy, the the dark elf starts to beg, "Please, I need an Arachne for this role. Haven't you ever had a special project you wanted absolutely perfect?"

"Not really," Atrea answers, still enthused.

"Oh, well... Haven't you ever wanted to do something special for your mom?"

"My mother's dead. Never knew her, never met her. I owe her nothing."

"...Uh huh." The elf has nothing else to say but goes back into begging, "Please, I really want this role to go to an Arachne. You won't have to do anything difficult just be yourself in costume. Please, I need this."

Looking back at the paper, Atrea goes into deep thought on the issue. Meanwhile the boy turns to the elf, "Look, if Atrea doesn't want to do it you can't force her."

"I'm not forcing her, I'm just asking he-" Just then, the front door bursts open with a bang. Everyone goes to investigate where they find another dark elf, the M.O.N. Agent.

"Vandree!" she shouts holding a rifle pointed right at the intruder.

"Oh hi, Mizrym." she calmly puts up her hands and smiles, "Still working with the law?"

"Shut up, what are you doing here?"

"Nothing, nothing, just recruiting for the mermaid production, nothing unusual."

The boy nervously steps in between them, "What's going on here?"

Vandree answers first, "Oh she's just nervous I'm doing something shady. Can't leave me alone for a minute."

"We found your doppelgangers, they told us everything. And you know you're not supposed to be anywhere near here."

"Really? Oh well, diplomatic immunity and all that."

"Someone please tell me what's going on," the boy shouts over them. "You," pointing at Vandree, "Why did you break into my house?"

"I only wanted to recruit your spider for the play, nothing wrong with that."

Mizryn, the officer, interrupts, "But you know you're not allowed within 10 meters of an Arachne."

"Yes the police have a bias on us elves, so I simply made a distraction for them so we could negotiate in peace. I may not be allowed to approach her but certainly the law wouldn't prevent me from working with an employee, regardless of race."

"You're still not allowed in this house," the officer shouts, still aiming her gun. "You have 10 seconds to leave or I'm taking a shot."

"I'm not leaving until I get an answer from her."

"I'll do it," Atrea exclaims, catching everyone's attention.

Vandree's face lights up as she hears it, "Really?" She throws her hands down reaching into her pockets and pulls out a small pellet. "Darkness!" She shouts as she hurls it to the ground, exploding into a black cloud of smoke. The entire house is covered making it impossible to see more than a few feet. the boy stumbles over to Atrea, there the dark elf hands her a second piece of paper. "Here's our meeting times and locations for rehearsal. Come early if you can to get extra practice, the show should be in a couple days. See you then." She runs out through the kitchen door, the boy tries to follow but only catches a glimpse of her jumping the backyard fence laughing all the way.

As the smoke clears, the other elf follows behind the boy. "Damn it, she's gone."

"You're not gonna chase her?" the boy asks.

"No point, she's impossible to follow and she'll just hide at the embassy," she begins walking back out the front door before looking to Atrea, "Call me if she does anything suspicious. She's always up to something and I still don't trust she's perfectly innocent on this either."

As the elf exits, Atrea looks back to the paper. The boy asks, "You really want to do this? Act in a play with that girl running things?"

"Well, she went through a lot to ask me. I might as well see what it's like," she responds, looking at the papers. "Besides, it might be fun. You're always telling me to do something new."  
"Well yeah but I meant like go to a museum or listen to music, not join a theater group. But..." the boy pauses for a moment, looking up at Atrea not even turning to look at him. She seems really invested in this. "Actually I guess it's fine. If you're sure about it I'll help you get there."

"Alright, guess I'm going to that culture thing one way or another. Oh and, could you help me read these?"

"Sure, but remember what that other one said. If anything goes wrong, talk to me."

"I will."


	21. Chapter 19

Ch 19

"Oblodra, Ve'Vir, Hun'ett? Grr, these names are so confusing." Atrea the Arachne reads off names and lines to the upcoming play from a small sheet of paper, walking down the sunny street shortly after noon making her way to her practice session. The human boy follows just a step behind her as her supervisor, hoping this time he can watch a session. It's been only a few days but she's put her whole heart getting into her character and the rest of the story. The boy has taken her wherever she asked, going every other day to practice with the dark elf running the project. Not just to catch up with everyone else, having joined late compared to the other actors, but also because it's especially hard for her to practice away from the others.

"How do you remember so much when you can't even read?" the boy asks curiously.

She snaps back,"Hey, I've learned a few letters. Teacher gives me some notes and I use them to remember my lines."

He skips a bit to look over her arm at her paper, seeing very little was written on it. All that he could see were stick figures with small details scribbled on, about three bold letters written next to each and some cursive writing that looked like elvish language but too small for anyone to actually read. He was amazed not sure why, either she learned any type of reading based on these notes or how she put so much effort into memorize her lines this is all she needs.

The two then arrive at the auditorium, Atrea's large spider body walking in first with the boy following right behind her. The whole building is dimly lit and all the while walking to the stage area a woman can heard shouting. As the last door opens, the bellowing echos loudly throughout the room, "It's the second time that he doesn't give a vith about what is going on in front of the stage, all right? I'm trying to do a scene here!" Rather than one of the performers shouting, it was coming from the one person sitting in the empty audience at the edge of her seat. With dusky gray skin, long snowy hair and sharp sunglasses, Vandree, the same dark elf who broke into the boy's house was there with a clipboard in one hand as she screamed at the top of her lungs. On the illuminated stage, a variety of people just stood silent. A few humans, mermaids, other dark elves, and one male dark elf in particular who attracted everyone's worried looks as the target of the stage directors ranting.

Meanwhile, Atrea casually crawls down the aisle to her teacher with a smile as the boy follows with the same shocked expression of the others. The spider taps the woman's shoulder putting a stop to her shouting as she swiftly turns around. "Teacher, I'm here!"

"Darling," she gleefully, "we were just about to get to your scene. Just get on up there and we can start and..." her pleasant expression drops with distaste when she notices the boy behind her. "You brought him?"

"He's been taking me every time, but would it be fine if he sat in the back and watched?"

Vandree looked over to the boy with disgust before turning back, "Sorry, no outsiders are allowed to watch during practice. Nothing personal." Atrea let out a disappointed groan. "He can wait in the break room until we're done, he just can't stay out here." Just as boy is about to say something, she shouts over to the stage, "Melanie, go keep an eye on the rivvil while you're on break."

From behind the stage a black shadow emerges, it floats out over the seats and down the aisle gaining faint hints of color and a humanoid shape. A young adult girl takes shape with goat horns curling from short silver hair and a wide pair of raven wings from her back. Smooth rich skin shows underneath a black leather jacket and red plaid mini skirt, the feet form into hooves with white fur up to her knees. She answers in an intoxicating sweet tune, "Yeth mithtrith," apparently she has a strong lisp from long fangs in her mouth. After clearing her throat she whispers, "I'll take good care of him."

"Who's she?"

"Oh, she a demon who usually helps backstage. She's nice when you get to know her," Atrea answers as if it was nothing working with a demon. The boy had heard some devils were allowed as homestays but most were just undocumented demi-humans causing trouble for anyone around them, even leaving humans without souls. "Well, you two get along," Atrea says as she waves back.

"Hey, hold on a miniu-," as the boy tried to reach out to Atrea, the other girl had already wrapped herself onto his arm.

"Would you rather we go out or thtay here?"

"G-go out?"

"Melanie, don't let go of that human for an instant," the dark elf shouts,"do whatever you can to keep him out."

Considering his option, the boy decides it would be better to be trapped here than go around town with a demon sticking around him. "Alright, where's the waiting room?"

Melanie giggles as she gently pulling him along out of the room, he has no choice but to follow. After a brief walk around the building, the girl with goat horns leads the way into a room backstage, very wide and mostly empty with a white tile floor. Close to the entrance is an eating area with small tables, counter, fridge and a microwave while on the far end is a coat rack with various costumes while In the middle of the room is a regular burgundy red couch where the boy is quickly yanked and pushed toward. The boy softly plopped onto the sofa, the girl sets herself gently on the other end while maintaining eye contact with him.

"W-what are you going to do to me?"

"Hmm? Nothing. Vandree wanth me to watch you, so that'th what I'm doing."

Still shaken from the experience, the boy pulls himself up and scoots further to his end of the couch as the girl just sits there smiling and watching. It's almost becoming uncomfortable how friendly she looks, only following his movement but hardly changing her expression. "So, you're a demon?"

"Mhm. Not that big a deal."

"You don't... eat people's souls? Do you?"

"Oh I do, jutht not that often. It'th more effithient to do it thlowly, make them comfortable and dothile, watching them get weaker ath you lick it up through their thkin."

As she licks her lips still staring at him, the boy feels a lot more disturbed. Something about a demi-human admitting to seducing humans so they can eat them while also having a strange way of speaking that's hard to understand. With some effort he's able to follow most of what she's saying.

"Did you want me to try you?"

He understood that right away, "NO," he blurts out before pushing himself away.

"Hmm, Alright. Jutht thay if you need anything."

Looking to change the topic, only one thing comes to the boy's mind, "Do you always talk like that?"

"You mean my fangth," After hearing him, the girl frowns a bit and turns away embarrassed, "Yeth, it'th very annoying."

"Well not annoying, more distracting. Like most people would be afraid of demons but with that..."

Melanie smirks a bit before turning to him, " 'Thorry my lithp maketh me thound tho thilly.' "

They both erupt into a round of laughter, "That's so mean, whoever thought it'd be a good idea to use the sound you have trouble saying in the words that describe the condition?"

"Normally I try to avoid thaying some wordth, but it alwayth becometh a problem when I want to athk for thoy thauce or thigaretteth."

Neither the boy or Melanie can stop giggling, "How did you start working with Vandree anyway? Isn't she doing a play?"

"Well I can tranthform into a lot of thtuff ath long ath it'th not a thpeaking roll. And these dark elveth are really nith to demonth."

"What about Arachne, like Atrea?"

"Hmm," she takes a moment to think, "normally they don't like thpider people like her but Vandree'th not really like that. A lot of the time the punisheth anyone who bullieth her. "

"Huh," the boy is relieved to hear that, he's always been a little worried something wrong could be happening to her but hearing it from someone else, even a demon, puts him at ease. "And you don't have any problems with her?"

She looks away for a moment before shyly admitting, "The ith kind of dumb. And thelf thentered." The boy starts to look back at her with an upset look before she continues, "I mean, the'th not a bad perthon but not the kind of person I'd want to hang out with."

"Eh, I can't disagree with any of that. Sometimes she's very disagreeable but I manage to live with her."

Suddenly, a crash is heard from the stage area with more shouting from the dark elf director. Curious, the boy gets up and heads for the door only to be stopped as Melanie rushes there first to block his path. "Thorry, you're not allowed to leave jutht yet."

"Come on, I just want to see what happened. I don't care about seeing the play early just seeing if everyone's alright."

"Nope, can't do it."

Another crash is heard, this time louder and the screaming just raises in volume. The boy does what he can to force his way around the demon but while reaching for the door his hand is quickly caught in hers. He can feel her effortlessly push him back with the strength of ten men, her face has the same friendly smile and doesn't even look tired. "Please, I'll do anything if you just let me out."

"Hmm?" She raises an eyebrow from hearing those magic words, "Anything you thay?"

More noise is heard from the main hall. Still unable to push forwards and desperate to investigate the commotion, the boy gives in and answers back, "Sure. Nothing to major, just let me go out there."

"Nothing major, huh." Holding the boy's fist in one hand and putting the other her lips as she thinks, she looks back with a fittingly devilish grin, "How about a date?"

"A date?"

"Nothing major, jutht promithe to take me out for an afternoon one day and I'll let you through. Doethn't have to be today or thith week, but one day you need to do it."

The whole room shakes from something, almost like an explosion went off. The boy can't wait any longer and hastily gives in, "Alright, I'll go on a date with you."

"Good." The girl steps aside and releases the boy as he quickly runs out.

Rushing along the same way he went in he goes out to the stage, he burst into the room only to find, "Away, you starvelling, you elf-skin, you dried neat's-tongue, bull's-pizzle, you stock-fish!" Atrea is on stage practicing some lines, or just a voice exercise. Nothing seems out of the ordinary, Vandree is sitting quietly listening, nothing appears to be broken, if anything him rushing into the room was the loudest thing.

Vandree looks back over to him, "Who let you back in here? Melanie!"

"Thorry ma'am, I couldn't help but play a little prank on him."

The boy feels a sharp pain in his right hand, looking down he sees a wound has suddenly appeared in the center of his palm. A thin stream of blood has already colored the area red, it doesn't look serious but he's surprised he didn't realize the injury sooner.

Melanie hands him a tissue before smiling menacingly, "Remember, you still owe me that date." At that moment the boy realized he just got played.

"Uh, just can't get good help these days," the director shouts from her seat holding her head in her hands.

Another door from the main entrance slams open as a familiar voice shouts, "Vandree!"

"Oh good, more interuptions, what now?"

Entering the room is a tall man in a black suit and tie, wearing a pair of sunglasses and a stern look on his face, it's Mr. Jones. "You've gone too far this time. You've already been warned about numerous things but interacting with an Arachne is crossing the line."

The elf gets up to confront the man, "I already told your watchdogs, it's not illegal if I hire her for our culture project. She's already agreed to it, I'm not holding her hostage or anything so there's no problem."

"You know damn well that's not how any of this works. No dark elf liminal within the country may contact or come within 20 yards of an Arachne."

"Whatever," she turns around on the man heading back to her spot in the audience, "file your paperwork and send it to someone who cares, I've got a play to run."

"Not this time," he holds up a sheet of paper, "you're being deported. If you're not out of the country within 3 days you will be arrested."

This news catches everyone's attention, especially Vandree's as she turns back and shouts, "What? You can't be serious."

"Like I've said, you've already been warned. I suggest calling you mother before this escalates."

"Oh it's already escalating," she says as she grabs the paper from him and looks it over, "do you have any idea what'll happen if she finds out you canceled our joint project with the mermaids? It'll be an act of war."

Atrea comes down from the stage and whimpers, "Teacher, what's going on?"

"Atrea," Mr. Jones calls out to her, "are you alright?"

"The humans are canceling our play because I hired you," the elf shouts angrily. "They want to send me away and cancel the whole thing."

"But why?"

Mr. Jones tries to comfort her, "Atrea, she's been nothing but trouble for us and the laws are clear. Even for a diplomat, interacting with an Arachne is off limits."

"But you cancel the play then, well... you'll just have to deport me to."

"What?" As Mr. Jones is stunned with shock, the boy rushes to them. "Atrea you can't."

"Like she said, I wasn't forced into any of this. I joined her because I thought it was fun. If you're getting rid of her because of that then you might as well send me off as well."

Mr. Jones sadly looks over to Atrea before turning to Vandree. After some though he lets out a sigh before taking the paper back and tearing it up. "If I hear one word that you're abusing any of your employees, you can count I'll have you arrested within the hour. Are we clear?"

"Yes sir, same deal as before."

Mr. Jones gives one more angry stare before slowly walking out. With his back turned Atrea lets out a sigh of relief and Vandree lets out a small grin.

"Thanks for standing up for me Atrea. Everyone's trying to ruin this project of mine, especially the humans, and it's good to know you're completely on board."

"Anything for you, teacher."

"Alright everyone, get back to your places. The play's still on." Atrea gleefully scurries back to the stage. The boy then tries to sneak away before catching the elf's attention, "As for you, no outsiders are allowed to watch."

The boy turns back to her and responds, "Don't worry, I'll stay out for now. Just take care of Atrea, I don't want anything bad to happen to her."

"Don't worry, neither do I," she says back. "Anyways, Melanie."

Just as the demon girl creeps up behind the boy he shouts, "Oh no, I've had enough of her. I'll just go out for a snack and come back later."

"Aww, can't I come too?" Melanie begs. "You thtill owe me that date."

"No." as the boy shouts back he feels a pain in his hand again. The bleeding has stopped but something feels wrong with it. Looking back he sees Melanie looking right at him with glowing eyes, as they go out the pain goes down too.

"Alright then, maybe not thith week, but you owe me. Remember that."

The boy silently nods and then hastily walks out. He's not sure what to think, he didn't really get to see Atrea practice but he feels he learned more than he should have. Vandree the dark elf may not be a direct threat to her as most of her kind would but she may still be a problem for her safety. And then there's Melanie, a friendly demon with a lisp who he was able to have a nice conversation with, but now it seems she has him locked in a contract until he takes her on a date. Such a busy day, and the culture expo is still coming up.

* * *

 **A/N** : I don't like doing these too often but since this chapter feels long (8 pages in the document, that's a first). Sorry for any delay, busy life in terms of getting ready for a job, fun with games, and wanting to get back into some shows. I've been having fun writing this series and hope I can keep it up at some pace. Melanie is somewhat based on Sophia from the MonMusume Online game (pretty sure it's shut down), in case that explains why I had a lot more detail for her and really got into giving her that lisp (original character plz don't steals/ kidding), just in case anyone else notices. I know I keep adding new characters often but sometimes it's easier to just go with an idea rather than think how you'd recycle everything you already have (also a problem trying to write with just Atrea and not a harem). Hope to keep going with this plot or maybe add more special episodes just for fun.


	22. Chapter 20

Ch 20

The day had finally come, the Cultural Exchange Expo. Atrea had left ahead of time to prepare with her theater group, and now the boy had arrived at the exposition center. Various demi-humans had set up stands all across the building, a Yeti play area covered in artificial snow, Lamia giving full body massages, a Centaur jousting show, Faun petting zoo, even some Dryads were running an organic fruit juice and smoothie stand. However, he had arrived just in time to see the show and planned to take Atrea around after her first performance so he didn't have much time for the other attractions. Around the building there were dozens of posters scattered advertising the show, "The Puny Mermaid Who Went to the Surface, presented by the dark elves and mermaids, held in the nocturnal species area, 2pm".

Passing through the doors to the nocturnal section, it was like walking into a cave. With no strong lights allowed the area was completely empty, the only light he could see were from tiny bulbs along walkways, little specks like stars could just barely be seen on the walls and ceiling, and in the distance he could see what looked like bioluminescent mushrooms. He had just entered and was already lost on where to go, just standing motionless at the door.

"Excuse me sir, do you need some help?" From the corner of his vision in the shadows he hears a timid girl voice, rolling closer in a wheelchair is a young mermaid in a green dress with a pair of very strange glasses, round and thick with a spiral design on them. "I don't mean to be rude but you looked lost as you walked in."

The boy turns to answer her, "Yeah, I'm looking for the play held in this section."

The girl digs through a bag hanging on her chair and pulls out another paid of glasses much like hers, "Put these on, they'll help you see in the dark."

Looking through the glasses, the boy sees the entire room light up in a green tint. "Thanks. Hey aren't you that girl scout who sold my Arachne all those cookies?"

"Huh? Oh yes, m-my names Olivia and..." suddenly realizing who she's talking to, she looks away nervously, "I-I didn't mean to."

"Don't worry about it, I was more upset with her than whoever got her to buy it."

She looks back beginning to smile, before the door opens just behind him catching both of their attention. Entering the dark room is the hum of a motorized wheelchair driven by an elderly mermaid woman. Wearing a lapis blue dress matching her scales, covered in shining ornaments with gems along her dress and a purple jewel necklace, her sea foam hair was tied into a bun behind a fanlike headdress, everything about her gave the air of someone important and noble. Behind her followed another mermaid adult in a mechanical wheelchair, wearing green and much less decorated but still very formal.

"Grand Duchess, we've been expecting you," Olivia greets her while doing a small curtsy in her chair.

The noble woman looks down at her in an apathetic manner before answering, with a slight wave of her arm she speaks with an icy voice, "No time for pleasantries, I'm here for the elf production and nothing else."

" Yes madam. Please, follow me." The mermaid girl pushes herself into the room as the other mermaids follow, not even giving the boy more than a brief look. He trails just behind them since he was going to the same place but never was completely ignored along the way.

As he went, the nocturnal section seemed just as busy as the outside, practically hidden by the darkness when he first entered. The mermaids were quiet the whole way and with so much around him the boy wasn't paying much attention to them, neither did he want to stare and upset the blue woman. However out of the corner of his eye something seemed odd, it was like her head started to slide off her shoulders for a moment. Maybe it was the glasses or maybe he just wasn't paying attention, but as soon as he looked to her nothing was out of the ordinary. Strangely, as he couldn't keep checking the woman every other moment after that, nothing like it happened again.

The group soon arrived at a fairly well lit area with a large crowd. While not blinding, the glasses start to get uncomfortable to see through as the boy takes them off, seeing just fine in the gentle blue lighting. The adults mermaids head to the ticket line, the more decorated one only giving the young girl a slight wave as they passed her by.

The boy catches up to her and asks, "Who's that? A royal mermaid?"

"Grand Duchess Ullasset," she responds. "I haven't heard much about her but I believe she's been working as a diplomat with the dark elves and came to watch the joint production."

"Oh, Atrea never mentioned her before. Shouldn't she have been helping run the project?"

"It was all the dark elves idea to run an attraction together, she was just invited and I was sent to greet her."

Taking a moment to think over his next question, the boy then asked, "Does she know magic?"

The young girl looked to him shocked, but didn't say anything straight away. After some time to hersef, she answered, "S-she has a reputation as an ice queen. Very private and distant to everyone around her. I tried to research what I could for her visit but no one seems to have anything." After that, neither of them spoke for quite a while. The silence between them became a bit uncomfortable before the little one started to blurt out something, "But, I'm sure it's nothing. Anyways, enjoy the show" She then started calmly rolling herself back to the entrance, leaving the boy at the ticket line.

"Oh right," he thought, Atrea's show is about to start. He hurried to an empty seat and waited for the show to start. A huge curtain sat up on the stage, all around him he could see various demi-humans whispering and squawking as they waited. Many were dark elves or mermaids but there were also a number of nocturnal people, and just as many other types. A very diverse crowd had come, all anticipating what the players had to show.

* * *

Orchestral music swells up as the lights begin to dim further. The curtains part revealing an illuminated set of water. Taking up the entire stage and further is a huge tank filled up, inside is a sea floor setting garnished with a rainbow of coral and rocks with a white statue of a human off center to one side. Resting in the middle of the scene is a mermaid with red hair and green scales. (The boy may not have read the original Little Mermaid story much but it's clear to anyone where this look for the character is from.)

An announcer calls out through the speakers, "Long ago, at the bottom of the blue sea in the white sand, was a mermaid. A young princess who wanted nothing more than to see the surface. While she could go above the water for some time, she had to be certain she couldn't be seen or go anywhere near the shore, the one place she yearned to see. But today is the day she fully matures and given permission to go there."

"Oh, I'm so excited," The mermaid girl squeaks to the audience, "I've been waiting for this day for so long, my 115th birthday is finally here. I can actually go up and see the humans up close. I shouldn't waste any time, I'm going to go right now. But first, I should get my friend Eda, the seagull."

The mermaid begins to swim up, the tank begins to sink into the stage floor as she gets to the top and the background rolls down to a starry night sky. The stage is now mostly empty except a small rock with a branch sticking out from it.

"Eda! Are you here Eda?"

A harpy flies onto the wooden perch next to the mermaid. "Fish friend, Eda am here." (The harpy looks very familiar. And that name, Eda... It can't be...)

"Come for Eda's human goods?"

"Oh not today, I'm going to see the humans myself for the first time. Have you met humans before?"

"Mhm, Eda has met humans before, real noisy and rude. Try to tell Eda to stop singing."

"Look over there, a ship. Come on, lets get a closer look."

As the mermaid swims off stage, the harpy take a moment before noticing, "Wait fish girl, you must not get too close to humans," she shouts before flying after her, "Wait for Eda."

The curtains close as the scene changes, some humans dressed as sailors run out on to the stage cartwheeling and dancing for a moment before the curtains open again to reveal a wooden ship and more sailors with different races mixed in. It looks like a party is going on as there's more singing and acrobatics from the crew and just to the stage side the mermaid can be seen watching it all with a smile.

Suddenly the music stops, a harsh wind blows through as the lighting fades down, candles go down to a small flicker and everyone looks around in fear. Someone from outside the scene shouts, "Captain on deck!"

"The captain, the captain." All the sailors chant. A spotlight points to the center of the stage as a dark skinned figure emerging from a hidden stairway. It's a dark elf man in an old navel uniform. "That's Dread Pirate to you lot."

The elf proceeds to kick around the terrified crew as the mermaid, illuminated by another spotlight, watches from the side of the stage, not in fear but in awe. "Wow, I've never seen a human like that before. He's so bold, strong, handsome, and tall." (Oh come on, never mind most of the actors probably weigh more than him)

Suddenly there's a flash of lightning, the ship is caught in a storm and everyone including the captain panic. The scene rocks as the dark elf looses his footing and falls back into the stage. The water tank rises back up, now without any lighting except for flashes of lightning. The elf sank further in struggling to swim as if drowning. The mermaid then swim into the scene to save him and pulls his limp body back to the surface. The tank sinks back down and the lights return, the mermaid is now on a beach with the dark elf captain still unconscious.

"Fish girl, what are you doing?" Eda flies in from the side of the stage and lands next to the two.

"Oh it was terrible," the mermaid replies, "this poor human lost his entire ship in a storm. He almost didn't make it before I-"

"That no human," the bird interrupted, "it's a dark elf. Really bad surface dweller."

"Oh but he's so handsome, how could he be bad?"

"Never mind that, humans are coming. Hide before they see you." As the bird talks, shouting can be heard, getting louder and closer. The bird takes off the same way she came.

"Oh, you're right. I can come to the surface but I need not be seen." The mermaid dives back into the water, leaving the dark elf to himself. However her head can be seen peaking from the far side of the water.

"Master? Are you here? Master?" The shouting gets closer until a round looking middle aged man with light blue hair and thick glasses walks in. (He looks all too familiar.) "Master there you are. Are you still alive?" He runs over to the elf and nudges at him before the elf starts groaning in pain.

"Ahh, auh, it hurts."

"Master, are you hurt?"

"The sun, it-it's getting in my eyes." He begins to get up on his feet all the while shielding his eyes.

"Oh of coarse sir, here take my coat."

The elf hangs it over himself like a hood before replying to the man, "Uh, thank you Horatio, you're a good slave." (...huh)

"Anything master. What happened to your crew, and the ship?"

"Gone, there was a big storm. I nearly drowned until... this woman saved me."

"A woman?" The man asks looking puzzled. The mermaid bobs her head below as he begins to look around.

"Not just any woman, she had one huge leg for swimming like a fish, and she had the most beautiful voice. I think she was one of those mermaids I've heard the men talking about."

"But sir, where is she? I don't see a mermaid or any woman."

"Of course you can't see her with your terrible eyesight. Ack, but it's too bright out for me to look. Come, lets head home, I'll see if I can get some boys to salvage the wreckage later."

The curtain closes as they leave. Just before the flaps meet, Eda flaps in front searching around, "Fish girl, where'd you go this time."

"Over here, Eda." The curtains quickly open back up, revealing a sea cave setting with only a bit of light shining in.

"Fish Friend! Good you got away, don't want to be caught by humans, or worse, that evil elf."

"Oh I wish he did," she says in a happy mood, " I wish I could spend every day with him. If only I could let him see me."

"You can't, dark elves hate all other creatures. Even if you could walk he'd never love you."

Hearing the harpy shout, the mermaid loses her happy manner and sulks her head down, the bird then flies away leaving her alone. "It's not fair, I wish I could see him one more time but, I can barely go on land. And if what she says is true, even if he does love me his friends would reject us both. Oh, what should I do?"

"I could help you." A whisper echos from the darkness, the mermaid looks around in fear as a strong wind blows through, the lighting dims further with a spotlight on the mermaid. From the shadows, a giant spider woman drops down on a line of web, clothed in black silk and a crown of spikes, she towers over the kneeling mermaid. (It's Atrea, she looks really cool in that costume, though probably wouldn't want her walking around the house in it.) "If you have a desire, I can give you the power to grasp it."

"W-who are you?" the mermaid asks timidly.

"I am Lolth, Queen of Spiders and Mother of the Dark Elves, I couldn't help but notice you had an infatuation with that boy. How pitiful of you."

"Oh, I know. If only I had legs or, or if I could make his kind accept me."

"Hmm, I might just have the thing," the spider woman offers, pacing around the mermaid before bending down to her level.

"Really?"

"Oh yes, but it won't be free."

"Anything, I'll give you whatever you want. If you can give me legs I'll pay anything."

"Very well, you may be a good swimmer but your fins are too weak for land. I will give you many new legs, but they will be like knives in your body, every step will stab into you as long as you have them. Your skin will become black as darkness and your hair will be white as ice. Everyone will be revolted by your appearance, except for the dark elves."

"That's all I need," she said in a trembling voice, "I'll do it."

"Very good," the spider raises her hands up, all light goes out except for a red back lighting showing the character's silhouettes. She then pulls out a glass vial and hands it to the mermaid. "Drink this, and all you wish for will be given. But if you fail to make the man you love swear loyalty to you alone, you will die the next morning he pledges himself to any other woman."

Still in shadow, the mermaid takes the drink, hesitates for a moment and then takes it. The spider laughs maniacally as she crawls away off stage, meanwhile the mermaids silhouette transforms, growing long sharp legs and standing up tall. She turns into an arachne just as the curtains close.

After a short break, the curtains open again, back in the gave light returns but the mermaid has changed. She wakes up to find herself with black skin and white hair, just as the woman told her. She begins standing and realizes her entire body has become that of a spider, she not only has legs to walk on land, but eight of them.

"It worked, I can finally walk on... ouch!" As she takes her first steps, she stumbles a bit from a pain in her abdomen, every step is like a sword jabbing into her sides. "Well, I guess I'll have to get used to that."

"Did you hear something?" A voice from inside the cave.

"It came from this way." Another, and getting closer. From deeper in the tunnel comes hunting part of three dark elf men carrying spears looking violent, eager to find something to attack before seeing the mermaid, now a giant spider. "Oh it's just a Drider."

"Darn, I was hoping to spear something good this evening."

Shocked by the men with spears, the mermaid girl whimpers, "You mean, you're not here to hurt me?"

"Why would we, someone as useless as you needs eight legs just to stand. Killing you would be a waste anyway."

"What, but... can't you take me with you?"

"Come on, lets leave her to suffer as an eight legged freak."

"What, no wait-" the mermaid tries to call out to the elves before the two who belittled her are stopped by the third.

"Hang on, that voice." The third elf gets closer to the mermaid spider, taking a close look at her face he comes to a realization, "It's you, you're the one who saved me that night, from drowning." (Wasn't the mermaid supposed to be mute in the original story?)

"Y-yes, it was me. I saved you... as a spider." She want him to recognize her, but she can't let him know she was once a mermaid.

"...Very well. You can come back with us."

"What!" the other men shout.

"I owe her my life, and since we can't kill her normally that means she has the right to come back with us. Do I make myself clear?"

"...Yes sir. As you wish."

The characters leave the scene as the curtains close again, and the announcer comes back to talk over the speakers, "The dark elf took the mermaid girl into his house and cared for her. It turned out he was something of a prince among his people and the pirate thing was just a side job he was doing. While the other elves didn't approve of her new body, it was better than seeing her as a light skinned mermaid. She was able to charm anyone who would listen to her, and though it pained her with every step she was an amazing dancer. Eventually, the prince had fallen in love."

Music played as the curtains open back to a ballroom, the chamber was bathed in a purple glow and the sparkle from a crystal chandelier hanging from the roof. Numerous couples were waltzing together and in the center of it was the dark elf prince and the spider mermaid twirling around each other. The music came to a stop as the couple finished their dance, all the other dark elves applauded them.

"Wow," the prince exclaims as he tries to catch his breath, "you're just incredible."

"Thank you, I... do my best," she says clearly showing pain between steps.

"Listen, my parents have been trying to get me to marry someone. It's not a big deal so I don't think they'll mind if I... well."

"Yes?"

"Well, you saved my life, and you're a wonderful woman I was wondering if... I could marry you."

The mermaid gasps with excitement, "Oh yes, absolutely. I'd choose you over anyone. Lets do it tomorrow."

"Sounds good, I'll just need to get a priest and-"

The prince is interrupted as a huge boom rocks the building, the lights fade down and red light fills the room, white smoke roles in from the sides of the stage as a voice echos through the hall, "My children, I have an announcement to make." The floors open up as a pyramid rises up with a large spider woman on top, the very same who gave the mermaid her new body, Lolth. All the other elves bow to her except for the mermaid and the prince.

"What's going on?" the mermaid asks, confused by it all.

"Hush, this could be important," the prince says too distracted by the spider woman.

Lolth stretches out her arms as she speaks in a booming voice with a loud echo, vibrating everything around her, "I have come to choose a new candidate for the demon web. Believe me even I was shocked when I chose this individual. Someone worthy of my brutal trials, and a male no less. Someone who has recently captivated a beautiful woman and now has my full attention. I invite you, prince, to swear loyalty to me join my ranks."

"Me?" The prince shutters, "Oh it's a great honor, of course I accept."

"But Darling," the mermaid whines, "we're supposed to get married tomo-"

"Oh there's no time for that, I've been chosen. This is the greatest day of my life. I'll need to prepare, I have to be in my best shape, I musn't wast any time." The prince runs off stage as the mermaid vainly reaches to catch him. He leaves her alone in the ballroom as Lolth descends into the floor, a soft echo of laughter can be heard but the mermaid just looks off to where her would be husband left.

The ballroom scene breaks apart and slides to the edges of the stage with the other people, leaving the mermaid spider looking out on the beach towards sea. "It's not fair," she sobs, "I gave up everything for him, and he just abandons me? Why?"

"Fish girl! Fishy spider fish friend!" Eda comes screaming in with a knife, falling so fast she slams onto the floor.

"Eda? What are you doing here?"

"No time, take this," she hands over the weapon, "Silver dagger from the moon. If you stab the evil elf man you love, can become a mermaid again. He doesn't really love you, just kill him." (It feels less like she's acting and just saying what she believes, and it's a little disturbing.)

The mermaid clenches the dagger in her hands, looking at it intently but then throws it out to sea. "No! I love him, I could never kill him even after he has thrown me away. I just can't, I would rather die than see him dead."

Eda backs away before flying off the way she came.

The light fades as spider mermaid sadly talks to herself, "I only have a few more hours left on the surface, but it was all worth it to spend just a few days with him. To be here even for a moment, it made it all worth it." As she waits to die and the light grows darker and darker, all light goes out leaving the stage pitch black, but then a spotlight opens up. Choir singing starts as the girl looks up into the light, "What's this?"

"You've done well, sweet girl." From the light hovers down... (a moth looking character. It's probably supposed to be like an angel but it just looks like that moth that attacked Atrea that one time) "You've you have a pure heart filled with love. For that, you shall not die in vain." The creature reaches out to her, "Come, I will take you to a place far above the surface where you can see the humans and elves from high above."

The girl grabs the thing's hand, as she does she shapeshifts back into her mermaid form before then growing a pair of beautiful white wings. The two float upward into the sky together looking very happy as the light fades again and the curtain closes for the last time.

* * *

The audience is quiet after the play ends, a few slow claps open up but most are left speechless or whisper to those beside them. The boy though it was... interesting. More importantly, Atrea did her role very well, he feels proud for her. He lets out a small smile and a hearty clap knowing everyone did their best. Now that the first showing is over, he decide to go to the back and see Atrea and maybe invite her to wander around the rest of the Culture Expo. As he gets up, he see the mermaid duchess going up just ahead of him. What could she be up to?


	23. Chapter 21

Ch 21

The lights slowly return with a gentle blue light, the nocturnal exhibit is still very dark but it's at least possible to see in this area. As the audience of various species funnel out from their seats, the boy slowly pushes himself through the crowds to the front to see Atrea backstage. Along the way he couldn't help but notice the blue mermaid woman rolling in her wheelchair just ahead of him, her assistant not too far behind. He didn't mean to follow her but trying to find the backstage entrance led him to the same place she went, a small door to the side of the area cracked open. As he went to follow her there, a hand grasped his shoulder before pulling him back. As he turns his head, a gray skinned woman's face with a large black visor fills his view, the M.O.N. officer, Mizrym. Before he can say anything she puts a finger over his lips, and just like that he silences himself without either of them saying a word. She slides past him to look around a corner, doing nothing to stop the boy from joining her and hearing the voices from three women. After a quick peek he sees the two mermaid women and the dark elf stage director with long white hair, Vandree.

"Miss Ullasset, how good to see you," the elf pleasantly and politely greets the regal mermaid, "so, what did you think of the show?"

"It was... odd," Ullasset responds uneasily. The boy silently agrees from the shadows. "Certainly a work of dark elves and mermaids, but I'm still reluctant to call it a pleasant experience."

Vandree frowned hearing their comments before returning to a chipper mood, "Anyway, I was thinking we could show it in the mermaid city? I'm sure these surface dwellers just don't get it like mermaids would."

"Hmm, what do you think assistant?" She says turning to the other mermaid with her.

She hesitates for a moment before squeaking, "I too am unsure. Mermaids might not appreciate the changes to a beloved story especially with such dark additions."

"Agreed," the blue mermaid adds, "It's not what we're looking for to improve relations."

Clearly disappointed, Vandree begins to be to the two, "Don't you see we need this? It's not perfect but-"

"We can't show something like this in a home city, we'll have to think of something else or maybe just stop associating our races."

"Teacher, is something the matter?" Atrea walks over, still in costume with black silk hanging from her and a decorative spiked crown. Everyone looks up to her tall Arachne height. "Who are these mermaids?"

"Oh, Atrea. It's nothing, these are just some very important mermaid who... I wanted to sell the show to and show it to more mermaids and elves."

"Shapeshifter," Ullasset exclaims towards Atrea, "I believe it's impolite to not take your true form in the presence of others."

Atrea looks over to the woman with a rather confused look, "True form?"

"Um, actually," Vandree intervenes, "Atrea's not a doppleganger, she's a real Arachne."

The assistant gasps, "An Arachne as the Spider Queen? You allowed that?"

Chuckling to herself, the blue mermaid comments, "Hmph, how progressive of you." Turning her chair around, she speaks once more before beginning her leave. "Nevermind showing this to mermaids, dark elves will riot if we show this."

The elf shrinks back trying to think of what to say, but before she can Atrea steps forward and raises her voice, "Why not? I think it's perfect the way it is."

Vandree tries to pull on her, "Atrea stop." It does nothing as the mermaid turns back to the spider woman facing her.

"The mermaid can only be with the person she loves by giving up what makes her a mermaid but in the end still loves him more than ever, meanwhile the elf loses her by refusing to give up his old self... or not keeping his love for the girl..." she stumbles in her words before resuming," The point is, if you're going to make those two friends in real life they'll have to accept they don't always see things the same way or have to change themselves while keeping only what's important."

Everyone is left silent, Vandree has nothing to say to cover for Atrea's outburst, Atrea stands confident in her words to the only royalty she has ever met in her life, the assistant looks worried from the side as Ullasset glares back. The boy is hanging onto the corner of the wall eavsdropping on everything he can before suddenly losing his grib and falling with a thud.

"Who's there?" Vandree calls, seeing the boy and Myzrim. "Who said you could be back here?"

The boy hurries to his feet, "I wanted to ask Atrea if she wanted to see some other attractions after her show but, it looked like you were all busy with something."

"Really, do I have to go?" Atrea whines.

"Are you doing anything else here?"

"Well... no... okay fine. Just let me get changed."

"Hold on," Ullasset interupts,"who's that dark elf with you?" Her cold gaze focuses on the woman behind the corner.

Stepping out from hiding, she salutes, "Sergeant Mizryn, I've been sent as extra security for your visit."

"I didn't ask for any, especially not any elves."

"She's just a nosy M.O.N. member who likes to bother my projects," Vandree says, already expecting her to drop by every so often. "Just ignore her and she'll leave us alone."

The tension in the room grows as the boy and mermaid assistant are stuck in the middle of the room between the three. A brief instance of relief enters as Atrea returns wearing her usual clothing, loose and minimalistic. "I'm ready, boy."

"Great, lets get going," the boy responds anxious to get away from the politics of two different races. He and his spider friend quickly leave the backstage area and rush towards the main area.

Leaving the nocturnal exhibit, the pair walk back into the crowded expo with it's stands and people of many differnt species, humans and demi-humans alike moving from place to place trying to see everything they can, and here stands Atrea wondering how much of her time it's going to waste.

"So, what first?" She asks sarcastically.

"Well," the boy quickly answers her, having already thought this through, "how about we go get something to eat?"

As soon as she hears this, Atrea's grumpy mood turns to a subtle curiosity, "Alright."

The boy takes her hand and walks her across the building to a line of food stands. Watching her expression carefully, the guides them both to a stand run by Lizardmen before realizing what they're serving, grilled insects. Looking back to Atrea she appears excited to try some, meanwhile the boy looks on in fear.

The boy orders a small box for each of them. Looking down at his fried mealworms, he feels like he coul throw up at any second. He quickly takes a bite, not letting the taste linger. Managing to hold back his gag reflex, he notices Atrea just snacking on her bugs.

"Mmm, I've got to learn to cook, these are so good." Just the thought of eating them so eagerly is sickening, let alone watching her spoon in more and the crunching sound of of her chewing them. The boy has to look away, at least to stare at his own worms and try not to think about the taste.

"Would you like to try our crickets?" One of the Lizardmen calls out, noticing how much Atrea is enjoying them.

At this moment, the boy takes a second to subtly dispose of his worms. Atrea comes back eating another box of insects. While it's nice to see her having a good time, he doesn't want to focus on what she's eating. As she was eating, something not far off from the food court caught her eyes. A dazzling wave of many different colors and lights, "Hey boy, what's happening over there?"

Looking over he sees the snow woman northern lights show. "Lets go see," he says as he leads her over.

Atrea steps over to the snow woman's area, the floor was covered in a white fluffy blanket as a chilling air surrounded her. She looked up to see the lights dancing along a portrait of the night sky.

"Hey, lets sit over there," the boy points to an empty bench within view and pulls Atrea over. The two sat there enjoying the display for countless minutes, just watching the twirling lights. Lumenous green streaks stir across changing into streams of sky blue and purple highlights. She had never seen anything like it before. Always beneath the trees and locked up in her attic, she never thought the night sky could look so brilliant.

"So," the boy starts speaking, "how has it been working in the play?"

"Well... pretty good. Everyone was nice to me and I did everything I could."

"To think you didn't even want to come here and you ended up working one of the events."

"Yeah well..." as she thinks of what to say, nothing comes to mind.

"Admit it, you're glad you came."

"No, I wish I was home right now with the TV and jerky and... and... uh," she lets out a groan not wanting to admit it, "I did enjoy getting out and meeting with teacher, and today has gone pretty well."

"I guess that's all I can expect from you," he smiles to himself and reclines back in silence letting them both watch the dancing lights in peace.

"Hey Atrea," a voice from behind them calls. Both look back to see a familiar girl with goat horns and silver hair, Melanie, a demon and one of Atrea's theater partners. "Vandree wanth to talk with you back at the thtage."

"Aww, can't it wait?" Atrea whines, already comfortable on the bench.

"Afraid not, the said it wath important. Altho, it hath to be private."

Atrea gets up and stretches before storming off, "Fine, keep my boy company for me."

As Atrea leaves, the boys eyes widen from hearing her phrasing, looking over with dread he sees Melanie slyly looking over at him.

"No!" Without hesitating he shouts back at her before she's said a word.

"Hmph, alright." Taking it very well, she wanders off leaving him alone.

The boy, now without Atrea, gets up from his seat to wander the expo some more until he can try and meet back up with Atrea when she finishes her work.

* * *

Back behind the stage, Atrea enters the empty area searching around. Soft murmurs can be heard from outside but nothing stands out from within the stage area, just shadows and dusty props. "Teacher, you wanted to speak with me?"

"Actually, I called for you." From the corner of the room, a short figure sits in the shadows before sliding closer. Coming into view it's revealed to be the royal blue mermaid, Ullasset.

"Hey, you're one of those mermaids."

"After your outburst, we talked a little more on what we'd do with this production. I have to agree with you, both sides need to accept the need for change."

"Alright," Atrea replies rather lukewarm, "you called me back just for that?"

"No, actually I want you to step down as Lolth. Let someone else take the role."

"What? Why?"

"While the play itself is very, how should I say, chaotic with it's message I no longer feel it would cause more problems among our people. However dark elves can be a little sensitive about their religious figures. Therefore, I feel it'd be best you stay here in this country while the production goes on to mermaid and elf cities."

Atrea storms over angrily, furiously staring down the mermaid as she looks back unphased, "I worked really hard on this acting thing and you're just going to throw me out because I'm a spider?"

"Actually there's another issue, you're only here as part of that silly Cultural Exchange Bill, you have no right to enter mermaid territory let alone leave your caretaker's house."

"Yeah but... but..." she's at a lose of words. She's right, Atrea can't travel as long as she's staying with the boy.

"I hope you understand what must be done," she begins to roll off to the exit, "I'm sure we can find a doppleganger to do your job just fine."

As she's leaving, another figure swings from the ceiling, "Finally, I've got you alone!" Swiping Ullasset from her chair they hold her back with their arms and quickly pull a knife out. It's the little mermaid, or rather the doppleganger actress who played her and with feet. "Stay back Atrea, we don't have to do anything drastic."

Ullasset struggles as the assailant holds her back in her arms, "What's the meaning of this?"

"I was hoping the dark elf leader would be here in person but I'll have to wait," the kidnapper whispers, holding the her off the ground. As Ullasset flops around enraged she's held just fine with the knife just barely against her neck. "So listen, I know you've been meeting with her so tell me, where she is hiding. She must be here in the city somewhere."

Thinking quickly, Atrea spins a web and throws it onto the shapeshifter. Their arms get caught and tangled in the sticky threads as Atrea then throws a line overhead on a wooden support beam, pulling as hard as she can to lift them away from the mermaid woman.

She struggles in the webs but keeps her footing, "Stop that. Listen, I don't want to hurt her," she pleads all the while trying not to harm their hostage. The knife turns away from the hostage and swings at the webbing, but Atrea throws a second layer on to keep them bound. "Just let me find where the-". As they're talking, they come to an abrupt stop. Their body goes limp and their grip loosens on the mermaid.

Only a short gasp escapes their breath as the doppleganger before they're flung forward as Atrea overestimates her pull. The body soars through the air, their body slowly degrading into a pink humanoid blob before landing with a crash. Realizing what's happened, Atrea releases her thread in a panic and goes to make sure they're alright. She's breathing fine, simply knocked out from the impact, but she quickly notices a cut in her side.

Next, Atrea notices Ullasset still on the ground, desperately trying to claw her way back to her chair. As she's trembling along the floor, occasionally looking over to Atrea while gasping from the struggle, Atrea crawls over to her, "Here, let me help you up." She gently helps the woman back into her chair.

Once back in her wheelchair, Ullasset lets out a sigh of relief, "Thank you dear. I don't know what I would have done if you weren't here."

"Sure," Atrea responds. "Do you often get attacked?"

"Plenty of times, though usually I have some guards to help. Or well... I'm usually in water." She looks over at the fallen doppleganger, making a disgusted look, "Well that's two actors we'll need to replace. It's going to take a lot of work to get all this sorted. I'm sorry you can't come with the rest of the troop but... Hmm." She begins to think to herself. Just before Atrea is about to walk out, the blue mermaid turns herself to her, "How about we make a deal. You still want to be in the play when it shows in the mermaid city, correct?"

"Well, sure. But you said I can't go if I'm here as a-"

"Nevermind that. After your current performance protecting me, I'm willing to bend some rules just for you to come along. Some may take offense to someone like you portraying the Spider Queen, but like you said everyone needs to learn to accept changes."

"Really?" Atrea looks on in shock.

"However, if we're going to make this work, we'll have to leave as soon as possible. Leave the humans behind without a word or we won't be able to make it."

She's left speechless, she wants to keep being in the play, but to leave the boy so suddenly. But wouldn't he want her to do this? She's lost in thought, she steps around the mermaid as her chair turns to follow her. More time passes, before she comes to a decision. "Can we do it tomorrow?"

* * *

The next day, the boy is alone. Atrea returned from her meeting after a long while and they returned to enjoying the culture expo, but afterwards she she'd have to leave for a while. She said she couldn't give any details on where she'd be or when she'd be back, but as she said she had to do it the boy simply agreed to let her do what she must. It's lonely around the house without her, when she first came he thought things wouldn't change but after some encouragement it turns out she brought plenty of life to the house even as she just lounged around. Of course most of that probably wasn't just from her alone, but the boy pushing her to try new things and see the human world differently. But now, all he can do is wait for her to return, just watching TV in her place with no where else to go.

Suddenly there's a knock at the door. The boy is knocked out of his depression as he picks himself up to go answer it. Just as he's about to get there, the door flies open. Standing there is Mr. Jones and Mizryn. They had been searching for Atrea for days now, though he never asked them to. "Well, we've searched everywhere," Mr. Jones grunted, "all we know is she's no where within the country. How could she just disappear like that?"

"I don't know, I already told you they wanted to do the play in other elf and mermaid cities but I have no clue where they went exactly."

"Aren't you the least bit upset by this?" The dark elf says angrily, "They've just kidnapped your friend and you're alright with it?"

"She wasn't kidnapped. She said she was going with them and I just... let her do it." Looking down sadly, he does regret letting her go, but if she went on her own there's no reason for him to stop her.

"Spider boy? Spider boy?" Catching everyone off guard, a harpy flies over to the front porch before roosting on the ground, "Eda has letter for spider boy at this house."

Taking a moment, the boy steps out raising his hand, "I'm spider boy."

The bird then turns her attention to him, "Spider boy? Eda give letter." She swoops over just barely missing his face before slapping a piece of paper. The harpy then soars off without another word.

"We've got to stop letting people pay her bail," Myzrim remarks as the bird flies off.

Reading his letter, it seems very poorly drawn, only a few squiggles towards the bottom are legible. "Doing fine. Wish you were here. Hope to come back when this is over. -Atrea." The boy smiles before turning to Mr. Jones. "She's alright, like I said there's nothing to worry about. Where ever she is I'm just glad she's happy. Though, I wish she learned to write better."

Mizryn swipes the letter from him, as she begins to read, "It's elvish, someone else must have written this for he-", as she's reading her knuckles tighten and crinkle the paper. She speaks out loud, "Dear uptight police bitch. I've got that spider you like and there's nothing you can do about it. We're having fun and playing with mermaids so don't try and stop us. She's better off with us than with that human but if you really care, you can come try and take her. From the city of spiders, your childhood home, we'll be waiting. -High Priestess Vandree." Tearing the paper in half, she shouts at the top of her lungs, "Of course, the colony that just merged with a mermaid city."

Mr. Jones chimes in, "She's already out of the country but we could still try to get her back."

"Hold on," the boy interrupts, "if she's no immediate danger you should just leave her. I want her back too but forcing her is just going to cause more problems."

Mizryn looks at the boy like he just said the stupidest thing imaginable, "First off, it's really not up to her if she comes back. Second, do you have any idea what dark elves will do to her when they find an Arachne in their city?"

"Now, now, he has a point," Mr. Jones interrupts, "If we're going to get her back we'll need to be polite about this. Stealing her from the dark elves and perhaps also the mermaid will just cause an international incident. However if someone were to convince her to come willingly once everything is all settled..." At the end of his speech, he turns his gaze to the boy.

"What? You want me to go?"

"Him?"

"Yes son, I feel you're the best person for the job. How would you like to go on a trip?"


	24. Chapter 22

Ch 22

While the boy is fine with whatever Atrea is doing so long as she's happy, Mr. Jones insisted on sending him and the dark elf Mizrym to convince her to return. Even if the claims she went willingly and was in no danger, the whole situation was treated as an abduction, dark elves are strictly banned from interacting with Arachne and their ambassador has just taken one out of the country, the two are now sent to bring her back safely at all costs. Besides, without her he won't receive anymore welfare checks to pay rent so he might as well spend time wherever she is.

After a long plane ride to somewhere in Norway, they rented a car and started to drive out to the rural areas. The boy had tried to keep himself busy the whole trip reading a shopping catalog but has already flipped through it a dozen times, he stared out to the rolling hills and white beaches of the coast line, without anything to distract him all he could think of is Atrea.

"Is the city close yet?" he asked Mizrym who was driving.

She soon answered in her calm voice, "Actually, we passed it."

"Wait, wha-?"

"The city is underground but we can't access it from the surface, we'll need to use an old tunnel way."

Hearing this, boy let out a disappointed sigh, "Could you tell me that first? I'm already getting anxious. This is my first time out of the country let alone visiting a demi human city." The boy looked back out his window but still couldn't keep himself occupied. Turning back he asked her, "What's a dark elf city like anyway? Is it like other elf places with trees all over and mythril windows?"

She respond sounding a bit irritated, "First of all, we don't use mythril like surface elves. we use adamantine." The boy honestly doesn't know what either metal is. "Second, a dark elf city is nothing like those settlements or anything humans have. Everyone's out to get everyone else and the only rule is don't get caught."

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is if you don't stick close to me and do as I say, you'll be lucky if you come out of there with your hand. I've spent enough time in M.O.N. to see what human society is like and most murderers I've met are nothing like an average dark elf citizen."

He couldn't believe a police woman was saying such words. He began to shout in a panic, "Wait, Atrea is in that sort of place? Why didn't you tell me sooner she was in so much danger? Why are they only sending us"

"Calm down," she calmly says pulling him back into his seat, "if Vandree is looking after your spider friend I can guarantee anyone trying to kill her would be publicly executed. If we're lucky she's probably with the mermaids of the city and will be completely safe."

Still worried, the boy looks at the letter sent to him before turning back to her, "You're sure? What makes the mermaid side safer?"

"The city was designed to help bring the two races together, half for the elves and the other half for mermaids, eventually allowing both races to exist on either side. No mermaids have been harmed but the two sides still don't interact all that much, so either side should have her on constant watch and protection. Both dark elf and mermaid should have respectable members staying, and since both want to have good relations with the humans, they'll at least let us meet her. And if the elves don't help us out the mermaids will."

"So they wont harm me as a human?"

She takes a moment to think, "Well... you are an outsider. The law is only that mermaids can't be harmed or enslaved. The Cultural Exchange Bill doesn't apply outside of human countries. But don't worry, I've got a plan."

"A plan?"

"Yes. Just do as I say from now on. Starting now." The vehicle then comes to a slow stop, she had turned the car into a parking area with a clear view of a large gaping cavern guarded by about a dozen armed elves. Not far from them was a. Not dark elves, they had light skin and long golden hair. Without a word, Mizrym got out from the car as the boy quickly followed, he quickly caught up to her. The boy was still troubled by her comments of her own people, but if she says she has a strategy, he just has to trust her.

All they had packed were two bags, a backpack for the boy with a change of clothes for one night and a duffel bag carried by Mizrym. As they approached the tunnel they were stopped by the other elves before she showed their passports. Mizrym got a few nasty looks from the other elves but remained collected towards the situation in complete silence. After passing the checkpoint, the two approached the cave. Looking down the boy could a trail of dim lanterns along the walls of the cave, as it continued they became fainter and harder to see leading to darkness."The city is down there?" the boy asked.

"It's a bit of a hike but we should make it there in no time." With no further comment, she started walking again as the boy followed. As the light dimmed she began to unfasten her visor, her purple eyes reflecting the dim light back out. "Keep close."

The lights along the sides of the cave seemed to go on forever, but only a few could be seen illuminating the shadows. Slowly as they went the the lights became dimmer and dimmer. It became harder to see anything as the boy followed as close as he could to Mizrym. At a certain point, the lights were all missing, leaving the cave in complete blackness. Trying to keep his eyes on whatever he could, the boy was close to bumping into the elf, just barely making out her dark clothes in the pitch black darkness.

Just then, a bright blue glow shined in front of them. They continued forward towards it, approaching the light as it grew brighter, flooding the space in a sphere in light. Squinting to see the light better, the boy saw a post holding a bulb producing the light. While dim compared to other lights, down in the darkness it was like being blinded by the sun. Beneath it stood a familiar looking building, short and not too big but enough to fit a lot of people, with glass all around and light showing from within, he could see a lot of items on sale inside. A convenience store? It's just a regular store like from the surface sitting in the light surrounded by black nothingness. The boy looked at the sight speechless, this can't be what they came down here for. Why was it down here anyways?

"Alright, lets make a stop." Mizrym spoke. "I'm going to get an orange soda. Go wait for me in the bathroom around back."

"Alright," the boy said before realizing the second part. "Wait, the bathroom?"

"Yeah," she answered back, "it won't take long so just stay there until I come and get you." She began walking off towards the store. But just then halted and turned around, "Oh, one more thing, if we get caught would you rather be in the men's or girl's room?"

"What?" the boy shouted back, "Get caught for what?"

"Shh," quickly looking around she walks back over to whisper, "Not out here, you'll see soon enough. Just meet me in the men's room after I'm done with the clerk." After that she just left the boy speechless walking into the convenience store. The boy, still having no idea what she was saying, just went to the bathrooms as she said.

Making his way around the outside of the store, he finds the restrooms. Inside nothing seemed out of the ordinary, it's dirty but it's just another public restroom. He doesn't need to go but she said to just wait for her. Minutes go by without anything to do, just as she told him he waited for her to come get him but it felt longer than it should take to just buy a drink. Just then the door swung open, Mizrym walked in dropping her duffel bag to the floor. She locked the door behind her then turned to the boy.

"Alright, lets get this over quickly," she says calmly before starting to unzip her uniform.

"Hang on," the boy shouted, "what are we doing?"

"Just do as I say, strip naked before someone catches us."

"Wh-Wh-Wha-" he has so many words he wants to say but none of them come out, too many thoughts are rattling inside his mind and he can't pick which to throw out first.

Mizrym finishes removing her outer clothes before reaching into her bag, pulling out a can of spray paint. "I need to paint you dark elf black. They'll be suspicious if a human walks in through the front gate but we can certainly move you through as a crossbreed."

"Wha- Wh- wait, is that all this is about?" He starts to get a grip on his thoughts. He's no longer shocked but still confused from what she's asking. "But wait, why do you have to get naked?"

"I'm not," she responds sternly, "I'm taking off my uniform so I don't get paint on it, idiot."

"Uh... huh..."

The boy proceeds to remove his clothes as the dark woman sprays his entire body jet gray. It's embarrassing but she makes no comments on his body and tries to keep his mind on something else, they get through it just fine. Next she dyes his hair white, taking care to make sure if comes out right through his dark hair.

When they're finished, the boy looks at himself in a mirror. He looks just like himself as a dark elf, dark skin and snow white hair, all he's missing is the height and more sculpted features. "Huh, does it look good?"

"You're hideous," she responds, "but they'll at least let you through the gate." She picks her clothes off the floor as he clothes himself again.

"Now hold on. Before we go, why didn't you just tell me about this?"

She just rolls her eyes and stays silent.

Now dressed, the two leave the restroom and walk towards the edge of the brightened area. As the elf stepped out her body turned dark with only thin reflections showing where she was. The boy had stopped at the edge, terrified he might just fall into the black abyss with one wrong step where he could not see ground.

"Come on," she scolded, "we've got to start hiking now or we'll be behind schedule."

Not saying anything, the boy took a big gulp and slowly started walking behind her across the stone ground. Each step felt like it could be his last but he kept at it trying to focus on Mizrym in front of him.

"Just stay calm, your eyes should adjust eventually."

He kept going like she said, resisting the urge to look back towards the light.

"Don't touch anything, some creatures like to disguise themselves as stalagmites and rope people they catch alone."

He nods just barely able to see her, he wants to catch up but he's still terrified with each step, slowly falling behind. He keeps his eyes closed the whole way only looking forward to see there's no difference, only blackness in all directions.

"Also watch out for Cloakers, they can drop down from anywhere."

The boy makes another step, a stone is kicked by his foot as he takes a step back but he keeps going. Just then a flapping noise drops onto him, something like a thick leathery sheet begins to envelope him cutting off air. He's caught off guard and can't even scream, he tries to push and shove but it only tightens around him. He falls to the wet ground struggled before he hears a cutting sound followed by a terrible scream, the sheet stops tightening around him as is comes off. Looking up he sees Mizryn holding a knife stained with fresh blood.

"Like one of those. That's just why you don't travel alone."

The boy looks down to see a large manta ray like creature, or more like a bat with huge wings, the black thing that had tried to suffocate him now laying flat on the ground. He turns to Mizrym but is then distracted as he looks up. He sees her clearly with color but what catches his eye is the sparkling lights from the ceiling of the cavern. He looks around more, the whole place is dark but coated in swirls of colors, painted rock formations of purple and blue and sparkles all around. His eye sight has adjusted and the underground is now dazzling to see.

"Well," she exclaims to him, "are you going to get up?"

"Oh, sorry." The boy hurries to his feet and continues on with her, all the while staring at the sights around him now that he can see.


	25. Chapter 23

Ch 23

They've been hiking for a while now, the boy's eyes couldn't help but wander across the empty space though shrouded in darkness as colors and faint sparkles shine through. His eyes continued to adjust to the weak lighting as more structures of the caves became visible, each time he looked everything seemed more brilliant since the last view. He wished he could just sit down and watch one area slowly light up as he watched, but he knew he came here for something else. He always returned his eyes to Mizryn in front, the dark elf leading their way to the city where Atrea was staying. The body paint has started to feel more natural on his skin, hopefully it's convincing enough that no one suspects he's a human disguised as a dark elf.

As they're walking, Mizryn comes to a stop, "We're here." Ahead of them is a cliff face, a massive wall of waving colors now very clear up close as it faded into the shadows in all directions. But it didn't appear like any part of a city, still very rugged and much like the other stone structures along the way.

"But there's no one here, I though we'd see more people along the way but now..." the boy stated. He walks forward to get a closer look at the wall before gently being stopped by her arm.

"Careful, there could be traps."

"Traps?" He shouts in shock, jumping backwards in the process.

Taking the front again, Mizryn begins to pace forward along the edge of the cliff with her eyes scanning the dusty ground beneath them, "Going through the main entrance would just attract unwanted attention, so we'll be taking a back way entrance. It's usually used by military scouts so watch your back."

"You really think this is better," he shouts back at her as he looks around them. "So what if we get seen by someone, isn't that what this face paint is for?"

"Believe me, if going through the front was an option we'd already be there. The paint is just so no one takes a second look at you as an obvious human, they'll still easily recognize me."

The boy reluctantly follows behind, mumbling to himself, "You? You look the most like them, how would they-"

She quickly interrupts him, "A female ranger who had already quit trying to become a priestess goes to work for humans. After Vandree returns, she then comes back asking questions about an Arachne somewhere in the city. Even if Vandree doesn't have guards looking for me specifically, someone will get suspicious if we don't do this right. Trust me, this way is safer." A few more steps and she comes to a stop, halting the boy as well. Getting on one knee she starts digging through the soft ground and finds a thin string, she whispers to herself, "Found one."

The boy looks over trying to see what's going on, "What, that tiny thing?"

"Clearly set up by some new recruits," she says as she reaches for a pair of scissors and starts cutting other lines hidden in the silt. "Nothing I can't handle."

The boy just stands back, getting a little annoyed how much it's slowing them down, "Can't we just step around it?"

"Not yet. It's important we take our time out here."

Rolling his eyes as he waits for her to finish, the boy looks back behind to look out along the wall again. Just then, something seems to move up the wall out in the corner of his eye. He immediately looks above but only sees the wall as get fainter as it goes up, maybe it was just his imagination? He looks around them in all directions, nothing appears out of the ordinary, just a soft breeze before a small rock begins to tumble down the cliff a long ways away from where they are before plopping into the sand. "Did you hear that?" he whispers frantically trying to get Mizryn's attention.

She doesn't even lift her head or seem to notice him, still digging through the sand. "Tch, amateurs," she lets out.

The boy trembles starting to get a little nervous, "It's not one of those Cloakers again is it?"

"Nah, they don't come this close to the city. They know better than to intersect with elf patrols." Another moment passes as nothing seems to happen, she then gently calls out to the boy, "Hey, could you go up ahead about ten feet?"

"Huh? Why?"

"Trust me, I know what I'm doing."

Still suspicious, the boy does as she says. He steps around her and moves forward. Nothing happens for a few steps, he looks back to see she still has her head down with nothing behind them. He slows down a bit listening for something, only hearing the rumbling of the caves. He takes another step, trying to sense something around him as his foot takes another step. A shadowy figure suddenly drops down in front of him, cloaked in black mantle and roughly his height with a slim build and a dark face with purple war paint. A sheen of light reflects from a black knife as it's just pulled out, they grab him in a flash with the knife firmly against his throat. Grabbed by a dark elf and held facing back at Mizryn, the boy looks back as two more figures have dropped down behind her. She slowly stands up rather calmly, there's no surprise or fear in her face, just the same bold look as always.

The other dark elves begin to pull out their knives as she elbows the one to her left, sending him stumbling back as she turns to brawl with the other. She finishes him with a sweep of her legs and another elbow down to his back. As the other recovers and rushes up to her, she grabs his arms mid-swing, pulls him forward and forces him to the ground. She grabs their knife and moves towards the boy and his captor. The boy can feel them quivering as they try to take a step backwards before being shoved to the ground. They throw their knife at Mizryn as she dodges, barely missing her head, as they pull a pistol from their belt. Before it can fire, Mizryn steps over the boy as she kicks upward at the stock of the gun, knocking it from their hand followed by a palm to their chest to knock them back. In a single moment, the last one regains his balance before being shot in the shoulder from their own weapon, falling backwards in pain.

The boy gasps trying to regain his breath, so much happened in a blur in front of him he just now got the adrenaline rush. Mizryn walks back and helps pick him up from the dirt.

"What the hell was that?" he wheezes looking at the fallen bodies as he pulls himself to his feet.

"I told you, this place often trains newbies. They teach us how to ambush very early and some days send a test through. And these boys clearly weren't ready."

"So that was all for show? No one's actually hurt?" He asks looking at the fallen bodies. A few painful groans escape them, especially the one who just got shot. For a moment the boy started to think it was just a rubber bullet for training, but the more he looked at his pained expression the more it sunk in it had live ammo.

"What better way to teach," she says as she unloads the pistol she had stolen from the other elf, "but anyways, now that we've dealt with them lets go in already." Not even waiting for him to catch up, she walks up to a space in the stone cliff. Looking closer, the boy sees there's a huge metal door blended into the cliff face, if it weren't for her focusing on it or how long they had spent in the darkness he might have passed it by if he were on his own. Mizryn then grabs a knocker to the side of the door and starts banging on it, shouting loudly to the other side, "Let me in Holbar, I know you're back there. Your students were a massive disappointment."

A moment of silence goes by before the door suddenly sinks into the wall and slowly slides into the stone wall, grinding the sand beneath it the whole way. Light blue light shines out from behind as the two are greeted by an elderly looking dark elf with five more dark elves standing behind him, suited much like the three that ambushed them earlier.

"Holbar?" The boy asks, "Is it someone you know?"

Mizryn lets out a heavy sigh, "My old teacher."

The old man has stern look on his face with a long white beard and a scar over his right eye, shorter than most of the elves he's seen but about the boy's height. Looking over to the fallen soldiers, he snaps his fingers and shouts an order in a rugged voice, "Take them back to the barracks. Except him," pointing to the one Mizryn shot, "take him to the punishment block." The other elves set out, stepping around Mizryn and the boy as they drag them away behind the door. After they've left the man turns to Mizryn, walking forward to her with his arms stretched out and a smile suddenly widens, "Mizryn, is that really you? It's been so long." He gives her a hug as she reluctantly allows him, patting his head. "What brings you to Spind'laran?"

"Business mostly. Hav there been any new developments on the mermaid side? Something like a spider woman?"

The man pulls back a bit to stroke his beard, "Hmm, now that you mention it, there has been a white drider in the media. Well anyway, stay as long as you nee-," the man turns to the boy standing just behind Mizryn. His happy look tones down to curiosity, then disgust. The boy gets a little nervous, thinking the paint or hair dye might have washed off somehow. "What's wrong with him?" The old man comments towards him.

Mizryn quickly answers, "Oh he's my nephew or something, I promised his parents from the surface I'd show him a real city so I'm kind of stuck with him."

Still getting a skeptical look from the man, the boy decides to say something, "Hi, I'm a dark elf too and... I like spiders." After a moment trying to smile as the others looked at him awkwardly, even he starts to think what he said sounded stupid.

Mizryn then moves closer to the man's ear to whisper, "His parents were a little 'down' on their luck."

The boy feels insulted by her comment as he grunts back, "What was that?" Just a terrible thing to say even when there's nothing wrong with him.

"Ah, I see. Well just keep him out of trouble."

As the man steps aside, Mizryn grabs the boy by the wrist and drags him along through the doorway, leading to a long stone corridor lined with bright blue and green crystal lights. The boy continues to stumble as he pull back on her grip, not enough to pull loose but trying to get her attention. "What was that about," he whines, "you didn't have to introduce me like that."

"No, but it got us through quicker," she says as she tugs him along. "We're in and hopefully no one else knows we're here."

"Could you at least let go of me, I can walk on my own."

She releases them as they continue straight through the hallway, leading to an open archway out to another large cavern. Unlike the network of caves and formations, the area was completely hollow. Illuminated by gentle lighting, to was bright but not blinding, the boy's eyes were adjusted for the darkness but absorbed the new sights just fine. They stepped out onto a circular platform covered in polished white crystal tiles reflecting all the light around them. Black paint laid across it in some intricate pattern looking like a spider design from above. Bridges along the edges connected to a network of more platforms of varying sizes in the distance, dotted with lanterns glowing across the cityscape and highlighting towers of black steel which otherwise blended into the dark walls in the far background. While the underground world was mysterious and breathtaking, this world seemed cold and intimidating, nothing hidden in darkness yet much of it appearing just as black with much of the color removed. As they continues on, all around them were other people, dark elves in more numbers than he had seen before, maybe a few other demi-humans but very rarely. But while demi-humans from his country were paired with humans and blended in with everyone else, the ones here seemed worse off, a Centaur sweeping outside a shop owned by someone else, a Minotaur in a cage possibly being sold, at one point he saw a human beggar down an alleyway.

Taking in the sights, the boy then hears something skittering behind him. Something like Atrea's walking but much smaller. Turning around he just barely catches a gimps of a giant black spider roughly the size of a dog as it pounces onto him. The boy flings himself onto his back as the horror crawls up his body, trying to hold it as it's fangs come in plain sight of his face. Too scared to scream or throw a punch as he's forced to look back into it's many eyes, just before a whistle is heard.

"Veronica, down girl." The spider stops pushing towards the boy as it scurries back off to a dark elf woman with short hair. The boy catches his breath again to see the spider at her feet excitedly shaking it's abdomen, much like a dog. "I am so sorry, she's usually so well behaved."

The boy stumbles in his words, trying to think of something to say that won't sound stupid, before he can Mizryn steps in sounding rather cheerful, "It's fine, no problem at all miss. The boy loves spiders." It sounds like she just said the same thing he did, except no one questions it. She then quickly pulls the boy to his feet getting him to walk away with her.

Before they can get far, the elf woman calls out to them, "Hey, were you on the surface recently? She tends to get excited from smelling people like that."

"Surface? No," Mizryn quickly responds, "He just works out in mushroom fields is all."

"Really? Hm, maybe I'm mithtaken."

They continue walking, the boy trying to ignore the woman and not look suspicious. He tries to calm his nerves and move his mind to something else, thinking of times back home. But then he feels a sharp pain in his hand, letting out a small yelp as it hits. It feels like he just burned himself on a stove out of nowhere, the more he tries to pretend it doesn't bother him the worse it feels.

"What is it now?" Mizryn whispers sounding upset. Looking to his right hand, they both see a glowing red pentagram burned into the back of it.

"Hmm, ithn't that interething?" The boy look back in terror, the elf woman from before approaches holding her pet spider in her arms. Her eyes begin to glow as her face shifts into the last thing he wanted to see, a familiar face from the surface all the way back home. Keeping her skin dark and hair the same, her face becomes that of Melanie, the demon working for Vandree during the play.

Mizryn is stunned along with the boy, they know they've been found out but everyone else around them doesn't seem to notice, and she's not making a big scene. She seems to be the only one who knows who they are. "Alright you demon bitch, what do you want?"

"Oh harsh," remarks snidely. "If you mutht know, Vandree hired me to catch you two thaying you'd no doubt thneek in."

"Speak properly, if you're going to threaten me at least let me understand you," Mizryn says.

Melanie makes an angry look at her as her jaw seems to twist beneath her mouth, "Fine, Vandree sent me to stop you but honestly I only agreed so I could see my little Darling again."

"Me?" the boy questioned, still gripping his burning hand. "What do you want with me?"

She giggles lightly looking directly at him, "Isn't it obvious? You still owe me a date."


	26. Chapter 24

Ch 24

Walking down the gloomy illuminated streets of the dark elf city, locking arms with a smiling woman taller than he is, the boy looks around nervously hoping no one suspects he's a human disguised with dark face paint. So far no one is paying them any attention, but he's still nervous there could be enemies all around watching them. In fact the girl with him was supposed to be an enemy, a demon in disguise working for Vandree even before taking Atrea, and could just be leading him into a trap. But he has no choice but to submit to her demands, they're on a date now.

Earlier, after first entering the city, Melanie happily stares them down the boy and Mizryn. A wry smile hangs across her face as she strokes the pet spider within her arms. Feeling the burning mark in his hand, he knows they've been found out and quickly starts thinking of a plan to get away without causing a scene.

"That's it?" Mizryn asks rather calmly.

This knocks the boy out of his thought process hearing her making the decision for him. "That's it?!" He reacts by softly raising his voice, "We're just going with this? Do we even have time to deal with this?"

"We don't have time to not deal with this. If you owe her a date it's the best way to keep her quiet."

Melanie looks back still smiling. "Believe me, I don't care if miss Vandree finds you or not. But since we're here, why don't we go to my favorite restaurant for a bit and I'll just let you be."

"How do I know you won't do anything weird to me?"

"Would you like that?" She replies jokingly. The boy backs up a bit as she lets out another giggle. "Don't worry, you don't have to do anything you don't want to, just act politely and talk a little and I'll pay for everything. Also, the police girl has to be out of sight through out the event."

Mizryn shakes her head as she lowers it into her hand, she speaks up sounding frustrated, "Alright, just keep the boy out of trouble so we can get through this quick and painless."

Before the boy can say anything, the demon slides along side him and gently grips his hand firmly. The burning mark fades but it's feeling is replaced with the force of her grasp, like she could crush him in a split second. "Don't just leave me with her."

"To be honest, I trust her to keep you out of trouble more than letting you wander alone. Just hold tight, I've got something else to do so just try to have fun." Without a second thought, Mizryn slowly turned and walked off, leaving the boy in her clutches.

"Welp, lets get going," Melanie says cheerfully.

Mizryn begin walking in another direction with the spider following her. The boy is dragged along by the demon before tripping to match her pace. Looking a lot more like a couple, they walk by as other elves all around them just going about their day. The boy can't help but feel nervous surrounded by them as he's lead on by an actual demon in disguise, But for now he just has to go along with her. As they're walking, he hears a cracking noise coming from Melanie before seeing her jaw distorting itself again.

"Does it hurt to do that?" Even though he's being held captive by her, he tries to sound sincere.

"Hmm? Whatth that?" She asks as if nothing were happening, again her lisp is back.

"That thing you did with your mouth, you didn't like yourself that whole time. Is it uncomfortable?"

"No, demonth often need to change their look, even dark elveth prefer we look like them, but moving my fangth around taketh thome extra effort. I'll change it back when we get to the rethtaurant. You don't mind it do you?"

"No it's fine," he responds, "you shouldn't have to do that if it's uncomfortable, I can understand you just fine."

"D'aww, that'th what I like about you. You're jutht alwayth so nithe," she squeaks while pulling him closer to nuzzle the top of his head.

Already being held pretty tightly, the boy feels as her hand tightens around his to a new degree. It's still not at all painful, but he can just imagine what she could do if she used her full strength.

"Anyway, here we are," Melanie turns them towards the boy's side of the street, directly across from them stands a buildings from among many black metallic structures within the city with a wide neon sign sitting across it's face. Bright red letters spell out something in elvish the boy can't understand with bright green marks along the edges. As he's dragged in, he sees the inside appear more welcoming with wooden walls painted with simple looking colors, the lighting dimmed compared to the outside lamps with purple bulbs along the ceiling but he could see perfectly fine. The rooms echoed with casual murmurs and silverware clattering with tables and booths scattered across the rooms with customers sparsely placed apart from each grouping, in the center of the area they entered was a round bar well with stools lining the outside. It had looked like plenty of casual restaurants the boy had been to, easing his nerves as Melanie pulled him along and down into a booth.

Finally Melanie had given him a bit of personal space so that she could stare at him from directly across their table, keeping a neat smile the whole time. She grabbed a menu from a stand in the center of the table and hummed to herself as she looked over it. The boy likewise grabbed a menu, filled with text he couldn't read and images of food he could barely identify. He keeps looking through the pictures of purple meat trying to find something familiar and edible. "Is the mushroom cap good? I didn't know they grew that big down here."

"I wouldn't recommend it," she says while adjusting her mouth again, "it's a very acquired taste, plus there's a good chance it wasn't harvested in a humane manner."

He looks back confused, "How do you farm fungus in an inhumane way?"

"Mushroom people are fine being eaten but they don't appreciate forced labor or being caged before."

The boys eyes widen hearing that the menu serves parts from demi-humans, even if they're plants it's upsetting to think it was a sentient creature. "On second though why don't you order something for me," the boy lets out in frustration, "just don't tell me how smart they were."

"You'd let me order for you? Aww, that takes a lot of trust." She stares back lovingly as he looks down into the menu to avoid eye contact.

Melanie raised her hand to call over an eel mermaid waitress to take take their orders. After some time passed she returned with a strange looking steak while the boy got something called "flumph alfredo", some stringy octopus like meat in white sauce. It tasted fine but after some time digging through his meal the boy discovered an eyeball within, forcing him to take a break from eating.

"Isn't this great?" Melanie says as she swallows a mouthful of her meat, "elves are great cooks but they don't usually serve meat, with dark elves you get the best of both. We should come back here sometime, or maybe if they open a chain in human countries."

"You know I'm not here for you, right?" he says looking right at her. "As soon as we're done I'm going back Mizryn to look for Atrea and then I'm done with you."

"Aw that's mean, Darling. Talking about your other girls while going out with me," she whines playfully.

"It's a date in name only, you know I only came because you tricked me."

"Is it so wrong a girl wants to spend time with you? What makes that spider girl so important?"

"Well, you know, she could be in trouble here, surrounded by hostile people especially towards her kind."

"So what?" she responds casually, "How is that your problem?"

"Because... because..." the boy tries to think of a response but stops himself from saying something like 'I care for her.' He wants to help her but can't put the reason into words.

"She went with miss Vandree willingly, you didn't have to follow her but here you are. Furthermore, you're clearly not enjoying your time with me so why not just run off and hope you get back home?"

"Well, you see..." The boy considers what she said before trying to deny it, but she's right, there's no reason for him to be here or even stay. "Oh, the government, they made me come."

"Really, you could have said no or taken this time to get turned in to miss Vandree. You'd rather sneak around than just get caught and go home as soon as possible. Why is that?"

"Well..." he keeps thinking of what to say but can't think of a good way around it.

"I can understand not wanting to go on a date here but we could have rescheduled and gone somewhere you wanted. But no, I can tell this is the best time for our date, when you need me to keep quiet and let you get in undetected."

He lets out a deep sigh, "I want to make sure she's happy. I've lived with her for a long time and she's never done something this extreme."

"Hmph, you worry too much," she remarks before going back to cut her steak.

"Yeah, I do. She's never wanted to bother me or show weakness so I don't know what to think when she's in completely new territory and says 'I'm fine'." He looks over to see Melanie has stopped listening, paying him no attention. "Sorry, this is probably the last thing you want to hear while I occupy your time."

"No it's fine," she responds softly, "you're nice to everyone you meet and put others you care about ahead of yourself. It's why I wanted to get you on a date in the first place."

"Really? Thanks."

"She's lucky to have you," she smiles as the boy gently returns one back to her. Just then she looks down at his plate to see he's barely eaten. "Hey, are you going to eat your eyes?"

Taken out of the moment, the boy looks back briefly at his plate to see the remains of some creature looking back at him. Without saying a word he nudges his plate away as she sticks a fork in to help herself. She's already finished her steak and the sooner she helps him finish his plate the sooner he can keep going.

"Melanie, is that you?" Suddenly, a dark elf woman walks over to their table. It's no one he's met but she's dressed very formally, wearing a long dark robe decorated in white web designs and red streaks. She looks right at the demon disappointed. "I thought you were searching the streets like Vandree said."

Melanie quickly chews the food in her mouth to make a response, "I was, but then I met this cute guy and we decided to go get a bite."

The elf looks over at the boy, repulsed by his human like face. Though not as attractive as elven features, she doesn't notice his dark skin is just paint. "You left your post for some trash? Vandree mentioned you were a demon but I never thought she meant we had a succubus working."

The boy hears a sharp snap come from Melanie's mouth, he then sees her normally calm expression broken by rage as her teeth start to show through her mouth, "Thuccubuth, am I?"

The elf woman then turns to the boy, "And you, you really can't get a girl unless it's some hell spawn skipping work? Though with a face like that even humans would feel sick looking your way."

"Hey," the boy says back, "I'll have you know centaur came to me trying to make me her master. I feel I'm very popular among girls."

"A centaur?" the woman chuckles to herself, "if you're getting horses to say you're attractive I'd head back to the surface with the other lesser races."

She lets out a loud laugh while putting her hand to her mouth just before it's grabbed by Melanie. Fire glows in her eyes as she looks up at the woman before making one snide comment, "Did you ever ask why mith Vandree told you I wath a demon?" She then yanks the woman back over her head, hurling her across the room with a crash. "You thhould probably leave," she tells the boy in a calm voice, "thingth are about to get a little rough, and you wouldn't want her to catch you."

The boy gets up from his seat and heads for the exit, looking back he sees the dark elf woman standing back up ready to brawl with Melanie, all the other customers gathering around to watch them.

Outside directly to his left he sees Mizryn walking up to the restaurant, "Oh, I was just about to go and get you. How'd it go?"

A loud crash can be heard from inside as the ruckus starts, she tries to look in to see what's going on before the boy answers, "It's fine, she'll leave us alone for now. Come on, we should get to the mermaid side of the city and start looking."

"Alright," she remarks acceptingly, "you sure she's not just going to become a problem later?"

More banging sounds come from inside, sounding like a table just got smashed in half, "I'm certain she won't bother us."

"Fine, lets go." She then begins leading the boy in one direction of the street talking along side him, "I'm sure there will be fewer people looking for us once we're past the checkpoint but we can't let our guard down just yet. Also I got you a passport, try to memorize your name so we don't get found out straight away.

"Oh thanks." He takes the passport from her and opens to his ID. He then sees an older photo of him with black paint over to make him look darker. The name listed is 'John Smith'. "Is that really the best you could do?"

"It'll be enough to let you through. They don't check to make sure you are who you say, just to make sure you're not who they're looking for."

"Couldn't you have just used my real name then?"

"Hmm, what is your name anyway?"

"Adam Hughman." As they continue walking the boy comes to a stop, realizing his own name just sounds like it was made up and would draw suspicion. "On second thought I'll take this name for now."


	27. Chapter 25

Ch 25

Finally, after crossing the city and still hidden, the two come to the edge of the dark elf section. Past the cold black buildings and black stone the sound of flowing water echos through the block, the blue glow of the streets seem to grow pale from white light flooding out from a hole in the rocky wall, revealing a glass tunnel submerged in the sea. Only a brief glimpse shows through a short gate blocks access to the tunnel as a line of people gather to be funneled in. All around the opening patrolled elven guards layered in heavy black armor, barely any skin showed through with layers forming sharp spikes that protruded outward, some armed with elegant spears looking more like knights than police.

"Papers, please." The line continues on steadily as merfolk and dark elves shuffle forward, no one spending much time at the checkpoint before moving on into the tunnel. The boy and Mizryn get in line, the dark elf woman going first.

"Face forward, stop looking so pathetic," Mizryn says pulling on the boy with her, as his eyes wander across the sight she remains as calm as ever. "If we don't draw any attention we'll get through this easier."

"Alright," he responds. "I'm just so nervous, we actually have to go through a checkpoint now."

"Papers, please." They steadily get closer to the point with each second. One of the guards quickly looks over the traveler's passports in a quick glance and sends them off. With each person he drones on with his deep voice the same phrase as the next takes their place, "Papers, please,".

"Just act natural, we're already past the worst of it. She'd never cause a scene at this gate."

Finally they come to the checkpoint, Mizryn quickly readies her identification as the two step forward. While the boy shuffles through his pockets, "Halt," the checker stops them as he raises his hand. "Random security check. Come with me."

"M-me?" the boy whimpers as he looks up to the armored guard.

"Not you, her," he points straight to Mizryn. "Come with us now."

Without a single word, she sighs as she's led away by one of the guards to a tent off to the side of the wall.

"Papers, please," the guard says turning back to the boy, still distracted by Mizryn being taken.

After a short hesitation, he dashes off to her shouting to the guard, "Now hold on, if you're taking her I'm coming too."

The guard looks back to take one look at him, he's tall even compared to other elves he's seen and the armor just stacks up on his height. The boy refuses to back down, staring back into the shadows of his helmet. "Fine," he murmurs before pushing Mizryn onward.

They enter the tent as the bright stream of light is blocked out. Five more guards stand around the edges like statues, towards the center one stands out with a much more decorated helmet and armor lined with silver details.

"Here she is, Captain," the guard leading them mutters before closing the flap.

"Ranger Mizryn," the figure in the center says, "It's been a long time since you've left for the human world. When Lady Vandree told us to keep an eye out for you, I was ecstatic."

"Do you know him?" The boy asks standing just behind her.

"No clue," she says shaking her head.

With his arms crossed behind him he walks towards them. his armor clanging with each step.

"What do you want?" Mizryn asks irritated,"in case you haven't guessed I'm busy."

The armored captain then swings his hands around as he gets down on one knee, within his gauntlets sits a simple green notebook."C-can I have your autograph?"

"Oh come on, you brought me back here just for this?"She shouts with anger, tearing the book from him.

"Autograph?" The boy asks, "I know that old man would be happy to see a student of his but, are you famous down here?"

"A legendary soldier," one of the guards comments, "top of her class and all squads."

Another one speaks up, "Expert marksman with bows, guns, knives and whips."

"One of the few chosen to show humans the best of the dark elves."

"And a woman no less!"

"Let me just say I'm a huge fan," the captain says still bowing down.

Mizryn finishes her scribbling before tossing the booklet back in the captains face and storming out, "That's it, we're done here. I don't care if there's a trap on the other side, it can't get any worse."

"Worse? These guys worship you."

"Don't worry about it, kid.," the captain says picking himself up from the ground, "women always feel self conscious when they get put in manual labor roles."

"Huh?" the boy turns back towards him. "Does it really matter that she's a woman who's good at fighting?"

"You're one of those surface dwellers aren't you? Down here social roles are a lot more traditional, women take the easy management jobs and men are always below them. Mizryn is one of the best fighters around but that still doesn't change the fact it's a man's job. Some say she took the job working with humans just so she could work with other girls."

"Can't she just get another job?"

Everyone in the room goes silent for a bit as the captain looks around to the other guards, "Sometimes you're just stuck with what you can do, even if you don't like it".

"Hey twerp, keep up or I'm just gonna leave you down here."

Hearing her shout, the boy runs out of the tent to follow Mizryn. He catches he pushing herself into the front of the line right in front of a mermaid in a wheel chair. "Papers, please," the checker doesn't seem to care as she flashes her ID.

"Last chance, get over here now or I'm getting that spider and going home without you." She screams out while holding up the line, only making the boy want to hurry faster. He gets there in time as Mizryn steps forward putting him at the front,

"Papers, p-"

"Yes, here," he quickly hands him the fake ID and hurries through.

-lease." The boy continues forward, Mizryn hadn't slowed down and he was still catching his breath. "Miss Ullasset, welcome back. Did you have a good time in our city?" As they were walking away, the guard says something unusual bringing the boy to a halt. The mermaid behind them strolls forward in a self powered chair, a woman with beautiful blue scales and a dress to match, covered in shining ornaments of gems, a purple jewel necklace and a fanlike headdress. The two of them realized just who they had just cut in front of.

Grand Duchess Ullasset announces to the guard holding back frustration, "Disappointing as usual, though I didn't think I'd be disrespected once more before leaving." As her green assistant followed close behind in her own wheelchair, the Duchess turns her attention to the boy stopped in the tunnel,"You, young one. Please tell me what you're in such a hurry for to show such disrespect."

"I-I um..."

Just then, Mizryn slapped him behind the head before scolding him, "Stupid kid, breaking through the line is one thing but you also shoved an important diplomat? You're lucky you're in the presence of royalty or I'd whip your ass white." Completely ignoring the point she cut her first and shouted for the boy to hurry up. "I'm so sorry miss, please don't think less of us because of the manners of a half breed."

Ullasset looks up at her sharply as she tries to smile gently, a look the boy hadn't seen on her over the long time they'd spent traveling. She responds inquisitively, "Do I know you from somewhere?"

"Oh no, we've never met. Maybe you're referring to my cousin who spends a lot of time with mermaids."

"Hmm, maybe you're right. Well if you don't mind why don't we go a while together."

Mizryn's smile breaks, she's stunned by the proposal, "You mean, walk together?"

"Yes, though we, me and my assistant, will just be going along while you two walk."

"Um, I don't think we can-" the boy tries to get them out easily before he's interrupted by Mizryn.

"We'd be honored, Your Grace." She puts on another fake smile less convincing than her previous one before pulling the boy close to whisper, "If you don't accept an offer from such a high ranking member, people will think something's up. Just remember our story and don't raise suspicion."

"What story?" He whispers back.

"Just make it up, just don't tell her what's real."

"Did you say something dearies?" The mermaid calls back.

"No madam, we're coming right now."

"Good. Christin," she calls to her assistant, "you'll be on my right with the older one. I want to talk with the boy some more." Before anyone can answer the mermaids push their chairs onward and the two are forced to match their pace through the glass tunnel.

For a couple yards the tunnel continues, the floor goes from a flat stone floor from the caverns to white marble, the whole stretch is bathed in artificial white light from bulbs along the edges. Outside the tube the sea floor is visible with the colorful coral buildings of the mermaids. After a while the tunnel lets out into a large undersea dome housing a small city. After so much time in the dim lights of the dark elf city, the lights becomes glaring like the morning sun, Mizryn can't help but put on a pair of sunglasses while the boy just takes in the sights. Numerous water ways lead through the bottom of the city for those that can swim, underneath can be seen a whole new submerged city built beneath this one filled with mermaids and other aquatic species. Other demi-humans walk along stone bridges between sections of the street, some the boy didn't expect to find, Lamia, Centaurs, a heard of Fawns, even some humans, though dark elves still seemed very scarce despite the number seen previously.

"So tell me boy, what brings you to the mermaid city?" The duchess says to him, " What was it the loud one said? She was going to leave you after she "got the spider"?

"Oh that, well..." the boy tries to think of an answer as he looks around, just then a familiar poster catches his attention. The one from the culture expo, the one of Atrea's play. He points towards it as he answers, "That, there's a show with a spider woman in it. I wanted to watch it and see if they had a toy figure of her."

"The Spider Queen?" the assistant interjects, "I thought we told them specifically not to make figurines of her."

"Oh really?" he sighs playfully, playing up the act of a naive child. "I still really wanted to see the spider woman."

"I'm not surprised," Ullasset says, "Poor High Priestess Vandree went through so much trouble to propose that show and now it seems to be the only thing they come here for."

"Do you know who's the shapeshifter who plays her roll?" Mizryn chimes in, "He goes on in on about meeting a drider in person but I keep telling him they don't really exist."

"Hmm, no idea," she says with a hint of whimsy, in a way even the boy can tell she does know, "but really you've never seen a spider woman boy?"

"No ma'am, but she looks so cool. Her dress is all black and with a big crown on top, just watching her makes me feel like she's in control and like..." he takes a pause to gather his thoughts, another poster comes close into view on his side and he can't help but see her in it, "She just looks so sure of herself when she's in her element. You know what I mean?"

"Uh huh," Ullasset replies. "You really like her."

He nods back.

The assistant pulls out a pocket watch from her dress before showing it to Ullasset. "Well I must be going now. It was good meeting talking to you two, even though our first meeting was unsavory."

"Oh no problem at all miss." Mizryn says casually.

"Well, you have a good day now, boy," she says ash she offers a hand shake.

The boy, not knowing what else to do, reaches forwards. After a firm shake she lets go and the two mermaids stroll away.

As soon as they're out of sight, Mizryn lets out a harsh groan, "I'm glad that's over. I take it back it can get worse from drooling fanboys, we could be held hostage by the ambassador.

"Why'd she bother to walk with us? If she was so upset wouldn't she have just let us go and..." Just them something feels off to the boy, his hand feels a slight bit heavier and just feels strange as his moves his fingers.

"Do you think she really recognized me? Vandree could be on to us right now if we're not careful and... what's that you got there."

He looks to his hand and sees a brass key on a blue clam shell key chain and a small note of paper, 'Keep it secret'. "I don't know, I just noticed it's here after we shook hands."

Mizryn takes a closer look at it, reading the inside of the shell, "Blue Oyster Hotel, Penthouse Suite Key. What?" She and the boy quickly looks around where they are, right next to them stands a theater showing the same play Atrea is in later tonight, behind it a much taller hotel building. Mizryn quickly runs around the block pulling the boy along before stopping at the front of the hotel. "It can't be. It can't be that simple," she says to herself as she looks on. The hotel name is the Blue Oyster just like the key chain.

"Hang on," the boy says. "If Atrea is doing shows here, and dark elves can't see her as an Arachne in the streets, then that means..."

"She must be staying here, and she just let us find her," Mizryn finishes.

"Well lets go," the boy says ready to rush forward before Mizryn holds him back.

"Wait, it could be a trap. She just gave it to us like nothing. If she knows why would she just let us go in and take her?"

The boy looks at the key and up towards the building, a torrent of thoughts flow through his mind. It's been so long since he's seen Atrea and she could be right there for him to go see. "Trap or not, I'm going." He can't wait any longer, he has the chance to get to her right now and he can't put it off any longer.

Mizryn takes her glasses off for a moment putting two fingers on the bridge of her nose. After a moment she replies, "Alright, lets go. But don't let your guard down."

"Alright, lets go." The boy takes the first steps into the hotel as Mizryn follows.

* * *

 **A/N** : I just wanted to say, I know, d*k move stopping the story there when they're about to get in. He can't wait anymore but now everyone just has to wait another 2 or 3 or 5 months. I am sorry. Hope the story hasn't been too boring so far, I know not a whole lot has happened in terms of story but it's been fun trying to plan a larger story and describe different settings. Still dunno what I'm gonna do to get Atrea back but hopefully we can get back to one off stories with monster girls of the week or just something new about humans. Thank you anyone who has read this far, it's been an interesting experience to try and get something written, sorry if it's not the harem you've wanted but demi-humans can be all kinds of fun to work with.


	28. Chapter 26

Ch 26

The relaxing sounds of a piano fills the lobby of the Blue Oyster Hotel. The boy and Mizryn walk in onto the checkered floor tiles as light gleams across it's polished surface. All along the walls are painted light waves like a clear beach, looking closer it's noticeable the designs aren't just wallpaper or even a consistent design but hand painted with new details along each length. Two sets of doors sit at the sides of the round room while at the opposite end are a line of elevators behind two brass staircases twist up to a second floor. At the center stands a decorative stone fountain of fish statues splashing water up to a glass chandelier hanging just above before splashing back into a pool below. The entire room radiates with high status and luxury, the boy feels he couldn't afford to stay here for even a day.

"How do we find where she is?" The boy whispers to Mizryn as they walk across the room.

She replies, "Check the key, it's got to be on there."

"It's not."

"What?" A hint of surprise escapes her as she looks down to him.

Having time to look at the key chain clam he couldn't find any written numbers on it, just the hotel name.

As he's about to show it she swipes it from his hands. Looking for herself, even squinting across the key itself, but there's no apartment or floor number anywhere. She growls under her breath, "Grr, what did she expect us to do with this?" They arrive at the elevators, seven lined up against the wall with the center door larger than the others, instead of a call button the panel only features a keyhole. She gently presses the key in only to find it doesn't fit. "GrrrRR."

"I'm sure it opens something. They probably wouldn't have her room let out into the lobby, she just needs to get to the theater around back and-"

Mizryn quickly interrupts, "We can't afford to wander around, it's technically mermaid property but there's bound to be guards around."

Looking through the elevators, the one of the far right is open where the boy notices something inside. "There's a keyhole here." Mizryn looks over as he points to the floor buttons, a keyhole for fire services set below and labeled in three languages including english.

"Are you really that retarded? The key's not going to work in-"

"Think about it, why would mermaids have fire fighters?"

She goes silent for a moment as she calms down. She calls another nearby elevator to compare them before noticing the other elevator has no fire service keyhole, only the last one on the end. "Give it a go," she says to him.

The boy steps in to the elevator at the end, he lifts the key up ready to put it in just before Mizryn pulls him out. "What are you-"Her hand slaps firmly over his mouth as she pulls him around a wall section. From around the corner they watch as three dark elves walk into the room from a side door.

"I give you my key for ten minutes to check on Atrea, and you just give it away?" A woman wearing her hair out straight and long and expensive looking dress with long sleeves shouts at two slimly armored men meekly following her. Through her anger it's clear who the woman is by her voice, Vandree herself, the dark elf they're trying to avoid. She stamps into the room sweeping across the floor in a rage, not even noticing the two as they hide.

"I'm sorry miss," one of her guards whimpers, "your mother said it was important so I didn't ask why."

"I don't care who it was, you work for me and me alone."

While they're distracted, the two sneak into the elevator trying to remain quite. The key slips into the hole perfectly before the boy turned it. A small ding sounds as all the floor buttons light up and the door slides closed. The elevator starts rising.

Half a minute passes as the boy and Mizryn stand beside one another in silence, only hearing the humming of the elevator. Above them, a small glow highlighted each floor as they rose. As they're waiting, Mizryn pulls out a small bottle and dabs it onto a wash cloth. "Hold still," she says as she begins wiping the boy's face, "I think we can take that paint off now."

"Thanks, I can't let Atrea see me like this. But what if someone catches us?"

"I think people will be able to spot us with the giant spider regardless, as long as we can stay together no dark elves will be able to stop us and we can try and get the mermaids to let us get to the surface. Then it's just a long walk to the car and getting new plane tickets."

The boy thinks to himself for a moment before making a reply, "What if she doesn't want to come back?"

"Hmm?"

"For a while I felt like I was just being dragged along, as long as she was happy I didn't care if she stayed. But now I've been thinking, I might not be able to go back without her. She might say she's happy but really just doesn't want to bother me, or not want to admit she's just locking herself away. I don't want to force her but..." He goes silent as his thoughts overwhelm him.

"Don't worry," she says as she faces forward placing a hand on his shoulder, "we'll get her to come back. That's why you're here, to show her what she's missing out on."

The boy looks up as he smiles from her encouragement, just as the elevator approached the last floor. The light disappeared as it continued to rise before coming to a stop. The doors pushed open to reveal a wide dim hallway splitting out to both sides, the walls lined with fancy paintings and small tables holding various decorations, small stone figures and gems on display. The boy pushes himself to take the first steps in before the elevator begins to close, Mizryn soon follows as they begin to explore. The brightness shrinks as the door slides shuts, leaving only scattered streams from the closed curtains along the navy blue walls. All the lights are out across the rooms with small twinkles of light bouncing off the wooden edges of the furniture. 'Atrea must be here', he thought to himself, 'it's exactly like the attic back at home'.

As they're walking through the dark apartment, a sound echos through the halls. A faint electronic noise like a television, with no other sounds in the apartment the two followed it to a door with lights flickering from beneath. The boy slowly reaches for the handle to turn it, bracing himself for what's on the other side. The door creeks open as the soft lighting from inside the room streams out into the hall. Much like the outside the room is well decorated, gently illuminated from a huge flat TV hung on the opposite wall. The boy notices a small green lamp by the door, switching it on to provide more light. In the center of the room sits a long couch facing the screen with a wide round table beside it, spread with a banquet of food across it, mostly unidentified meats. A black chitin claw reaches out from the couch grabbing a kebab from the table.

As the two approach the other side of the couch, a familiar female voice calls out, "How many times are you guys going to check up on me?" A large black spider body lays across the couch with long sharp legs hanging from the edges, a humanoid body with pale skin connects to it dressed in a black web dress. Her head dotted with multiple black eyes, partly covered by her straight black hair and topped with a crown of thorns. Wearing her stage costume while chewing meat bits off the kebab, it's Atrea. "Tell Vandree the next guy who gets sent up here is getting strung up in the bathroom."

Mizryn pushes herself forward in front of her, "Sorry spider but I don't answer to Vandree."

Atrea leaned back in shock first seeing Mizryn after so long before making an aggressive glance. "You just can't seem to leave me alone," she growls back as she begins to bring herself up from the couch. Her spider legs shift and stamp as she rises from her leisurely state, " The one elf I hoped to never see again and you still manage to get in my way. I might have the mind to call security for a change."

Mizryn begins to tighten her fist, not willing to back down as the spider stands taller than her.

"Atrea, wait," the boy intervenes standing between the two.

Her aggressive stance shifts to him before turning down, a surprised look comes back to her face, "B-boy! How'd you get here?"

The boy excitedly begins speaking, "I wore a disguise all the way, just to see you and ask if you'd... um..." he stutters as he tries to stop himself, if he comes off as to desperate Atrea might feel forced to leave. He clears his throat before continuing, "So uh, how have you been?"

"Oh, fine," she answers casually, "been doing Vandree's play every couple days for mermaids, and I get all the food I want."

"That's... good." He looks over to the TV, it looks like The Wizard of Oz but reshot with dark elf actors, and not very good ones. "Isn't that one of the movies I watched with you one night?"

"Yeah, I asked Vandree for some of those movies but this is the only one she could get... It's a bit different from what I remember."

He takes a moment to watch it for a while. Watching a dark elf version of Dorthy talking to the Great and Powerful Spider Queen along with the other characters, then turning around to fight The White Witch of the Forest, all the while the characters struggling to emote, it starts to get uninteresting. "Dark elves sure like spiders. You must be popular around here."

"..." Atrea looks away without saying anything.

"Alright, if you're not going to say it I will," Mizryn shouts aggressively to break the silence, "Mr. Jones ordered me to bring you back, the dark elves imported you illegally and you're still registered to live with this human. We need leave now before we get caught."

Atrea lifts up her head as she scowls at her, "And why would I go with you? I have everything I need here, a house all to myself and anything else I ask for. Vandree treats me just fine and I get to help her improve relations between her and mermaids. Living with humans got boring quickly just dropping me off at some kids house to keep an eye on me. Unless you have a mansion back home to offer me I think you should just leave."

"I wasn't asking, you're going back no matter who disagrees," Mizryn swiftly reaches for her belt and pulls out a small dart pistol. She takes aim at Atrea ready to fire just before the boy steps in front of her.

"Hold on," she shouts as he lifts his hands up between them. Both ready to strike one another, they both stop as he stands between them. "Atrea, you're really fine being here instead of living at my house with me?"

"W-well..." she pauses for a moment, anxiously turning between the two. She then perks up, standing straight before confidently saying, "Yeah, I'm happy here."

He lets out a heavy sigh from hearing that, but then smiles before walking off to the door. "Lets go Mizryn, we're going home." He beings to walk out the door into the shadows, turning the corner towards the elevator.

"Excuse you?" She scoffs back, "Who said you could-"

"If you don't come with me I'll tell the dark elves you're here trying to steal Atrea."

She freezes in place before chasing after him, "You wouldn't."

"I would. Atrea is happy here and that's all I care about now." As the spider crawls out to follow him, light pouring out into the dark halls, he's already waiting after calling the elevator. "I'm not gonna force her to come live with me. She told you, she has a full life here and everything she could want so there's no need to bother her. I could offer I make her anything she wants from chicken to bison but that wouldn't change her feelings about staying."

Mizryn looks back at Atrea before slinking off to the elevator, knowing there's nothing she can do if he goes against her. She can't drag both of them out of the city.

"Y-yeah, Yeah!" Atrea shouts as she steps out into the hall. "Leave now before Vandree finds out what you're doing, I'm perfectly fine livi-... Did you say bison?"

Mizryn looks over to see the boy's evil grin hidden from Atrea. She gets it right away, for now she remains silent with the same cold expression and lets him do the talking.

The boy turns around innocently, "Oh yeah there's beef made from large buffalo. I don't think I've ever served it to you but I'm sure Vandree can get you some."

"Oh uh... Sure," Atrea responds timidly, "But you know elves just don't cook things the way humans do. Ya know, meat on a stick is nice but what I really miss that jerky stuff. B-but ya know, I could just ask her to give me new stuff."

"I'm sure she will," he says happily, "it probably took them a lot of work to make that movie for you while they get a real copy. By the way try to ask them to get you The Sound of Music, it's a great movie but I don't think they'd make a very good dark elf version."

Atrea nods as she peaks back at the movie still running in her room, she remembers the movies they first watched together and the countless stacks the boy had collected, many of which she didn't get the chance to watch.

The elevator's starting to get close as the boy glares at Mizryn. They exchange a stare before she gives in and begins to walk over to him. "Well it was nice to visit Atrea," the boy calls back, "maybe we can do this another time. Do whatever makes you happy, but don't forget to try something new."

"Something new..."

A chime rings from the elevator, it's just about ready to open. "Well, see you another time."

The door opens, the boy takes one step forward before another person steps on out from the elevator, long dark skinned legs covered in an expensive looking dress with long sleeves. He jumps back to see a dark elf woman with long white hair and bright red eyes looking right at him with a smug grin beneath. "Leaving so soon?" Vandree is there, arms casually crossed and a smug look on her face. "Atrea I don't remember inviting guests over to visit."

Atrea remains silent, keeping her head down.

"Let us go Vandree," Mizryn steps forward with an offensive stance in case of an attack, "I admit defeat, Atrea's not willing to leave and this boy has stopped cooperating. Let us leave peacefully an-"

"Blah blah blah blah blah," Vandree snarks as she steps out with her head bobbing, "Do you even hear yourself, you can't possibly have come all this way just to surrender and now you're just running away like a coward. Working for humans has really gotten to you hasn't it, softened you up."

The boy speaks up as they step around her, "Please, I just wanted to see she was well cared for."

"No visitors, that's the rules. I give Atrea everything she she needs to be safe and rested, we can't have anyone, or worse humans, barging in to cause trouble. We'll settle this in the lobby away from my star."

"Hey Vandree," a shout from across the halls, Atrea stands there tall and confident stepping forward with a frown on her face. "The first week I came here, you said you'd work to get them past dark elf censorship but so far all I have is that remake your friends made. How long has it been you've refused to give me what I asked for?"

Vandree turns to face Atrea, stepping forward to reason with her, "Well you see, it's so hard to find copies of human movies. They're just impossible to get."

"Uh huh," she replies dismissively, "and how about not leaving me leave this apartment?"

"Atrea, darling, I can't have you wandering around with dark elves, you're too valuable to risk."

"Oh please," Mizryn blurts out, "right outside is the mermaid city, besides you can just give the word and all dark elves will just be fine with a spider woman."

"Shut it you little-" Vandree turns back in anger before returning with a fake smile.

Atrea's glance narrows and she starts to pace forward, "One more thing that's bothered me, I noticed a lot of mermaids in the audience every time."

"Well of course, it's meant to bring our two peoples together, combining a mermaid play with dark elf values."

"That's just it, I've never seen a dark elf in the audience, and if what police bitch say is true we're just on the mermaid city, why can't we do it in the dark elf side?"

"Because... Because..." she stumbles in her words looking for a proper response.

"Because you don't want Atrea to bring the two sides together," the boy says stepping back into the appartment, "you're just using her to influence the mermaids. Meanwhile dark elves can't see her play or it'd start to change their views."

Atrea walks forward past her and towards the elevator, giving a sweet smile to the boy, "Sorry Vandree but I don't think things are working out. After today's performance I want to go back to the human countries. However if I'm going to perform I want to spend some time outside my apartment, without supervision."

Just as Atrea and the boy are about to step in, a knife flies past them jamming itself into the button on the outside. Sparks jump and crackle from the point of impact as the door starts to close. "I'm sorry Atrea, but I can't agree to those conditions." Vandree stares back with a crossed look on her face. With the flick of her wrist another knife appears in her hand as she readies to throw it.

Mizryn dashes to the door doing her best to hold it open, "Hurry, get inside fast." The boy and Atrea quickly slip past her. Vandree hurls another knife aimed between the doorway just before Mizryn squeezes herself out and catches it, holding the blade in her palm as blood drips through her fingers.

Atrea and the boy are taken down as the elevator finishes closing. Atrea growls under her breath, "Err, stupid. I messed it all up. If I had just stayed quiet you could have gotten away but now..."

The boy gently places his arm on her, "Don't worry about it. You told her off just fine and saw she wasn't going to improve anything. Now we can get out of here and... Well, we're gonna need some help to get back, and Mizryn's gonna be very delayed."

"I wonder if they'll kill each other," Atrea adds somewhat morbidly looking up past the ceiling.

"I'd rather not think about that. But anyways, Mizryn said if we get in trouble to find some important mermaids and they'd help us. I think we should start looking for that."

Atrea thinks to herself for a moment before saying, "No, we have to go to the dark elves."

"What?" the boy shouts, "No, they're working for Vandree and will just catch us. They're not going to help use leave."

"I came here to help bring these two together, if Vandree's not going to do it fast enough then I might as well do it for her by going to them."

The boy pauses with a troubled look on his face, he lets out a sigh and looks up at Atrea, "Well, I can't stop you, so I'll just have to go with you."

"Alright, just this one thing then we'll go back home. And then you better show me that Sound of Music thing and a full plate of bison."

"Atrea, if we can get back I will cook a full elephant if you want."

"Really?" She says in excitement.

"N-no, but I've got plenty of movies and I'll take you anywhere you want to go. And if you don't want to go anywhere, I'll find somewhere and make you want to."

Atrea chuckles a little, "That's fine with me."


	29. Chapter 27 pt 1

Ch 27

The two manage to leave the hotel with no resistance, exiting back into the underwater dome and immediately heading back to the entrance to the other city, the boy working to remember exactly where the tunnel was. Atrea along the way peacefully looks out along their surroundings, gazing across the colorful buildings and the oceanscape outside as if seeing it all for the first time. All the while oblivious to mermaids and other demi-humans whispering about her. From what the boy can tell they're not talking about her being an Arachne, but how she's still in her stage costume. Her black dress really stands out in the public setting, of course it's made to be seen from the back of an audience but out here it's just grabbing unwanted attention. Especially her crown with long aggressive spikes protruding across her head.

"Do you have to wear that as we go?" The boy comments to Atrea.

"I don't see why not. I didn't have time to change," she says while adjusting her crown to make sure it's level," besides, I kinda like the feel of it."

"You barely wear anything at home but they give you a silk dress and now you can't take it off," he groans while rolling his eyes. As he does he gets a short look down an alley, a trio of dark elf men in casual clothes whisper among each other as he and Atrea walk by. He continues to look back and make sure they're not following, all the while Atrea barely noticing them. They don't look like professionals working for anyone, but there's always a chance they're undercover. The boy grabs Atrea's wrist, pulling to hurry them along.

After a minute searching along the wall, the boy finds the glass tunnel he and Mizryn used to enter. As they hurry to the caves of the dark elves, the linking area between them comes into view, barely any line on their side into the dark elf city. Just then the boy quickly stops them. He pulls out his passport, the fake one with his face all painted as it begins to sink in he's no longer disguised.

"What's wrong?" Atera looks over his over his shoulder unable to read or understand the small book in his hands.

"If we don't have identification they're just going to arrest us." Even worse, Atrea stands out more than usual for them, they're never going to let her through. "We need to go back for Mizryn."

"What?" she shouts on impulse. After looking to see no one noticed them, she kneels down to talk in a frustrated whisper, "We're so close right now, why do we have to turn back for her?"

"How are we going to get you past them?" He turns back slowly pacing, trying to think of a solution. He doesn't have any connections here and doesn't know who he can trust. They can't just rush through and if they waste too much time dark elves working for Vandree will catch them.

Atrea crosses her arms impatiently, the goal is right in their sight and the boy has stopped them. She takes a glance at the line to the other side, no one else is entering and it's moving by pretty fast until it's almost empty. As the boy continues to look at his passport thinking of their next action, she straightens the crown on her head and takes off directly towards the checkpoint.

The boy only notices she's gone off moments after. He frantically looks around before seeing her just before the checkpoint. He quickly calls out to her while still trying to keep his voice down, "Atrea, wait!"

As the last mermaid crosses through, the spider woman forces herself forward to the stopping point, standing well above the seated armed guard. "Name please," he asks with a deep voice.

She introduces herself loudly with her chest puffed out, "I am the Spider Queen of the Demon Web." Her arms extend out and palms upward as she announces her presence, much like from her stage play, "I have come to judge my people in the flesh with my eight legs."

Her act catches everyone's attention. People from the opposite line look over at the scene, especially dark elves. The guard on her side maintains a professional tone as he responds, "Do you have some identification to be checked?"

"I don't need any identification," she proclaims as she crawls past the man, "my mere presence should tell everyone who I am." She goes by with all guards staying at their post and resuming what they were previously doing, only being followed by a handful of dark elves leaving their line to follow her back into the dark elf city.

The boy, after hanging back from her act, rushes into the line and over to the desk. "Yes, I'm with her," pointing at Atrea's following obscuring a direct view of her. "I had an ID but... um."

"No problem, enjoy your stay in the city."

The boy's eyes widen as he hears he didn't even have to show his fake passport, "Wait, really? You don't need to check me?"

"Not for coming in," the guard answers. "Also, could you tell your friend humans and other species get through for free."

"F-Free?" he stutters still amazed how easy this is turning out, well besides Atrea already getting lost again.

"Yep," the guard pulls up a small book and turns to a page before reading from it, "Humans, sea people, and anything with more than six legs. Though scylla can't transport and foreign fruits."

"B-but isn't she..."

"A drider?"

"Yes- No! She's... an Arachne..."

"Hmm, there's no mention of any demi-humans by that name," the guard says flipping through the book. "I've seen things pass through this gate I didn't even know existed for the past hundred years. If a white drider comes up and says she's the incarnation of Lolth I'm willing to believe her. It's easier to believe than Lamia slithering by with no legs at all."

"Okay. But may I ask, if my ID was damaged while I was on the mermaid side, how would I get back from the dark elf side?"

"I recommend finding someone to make a fake passport, we usually just check the picture matches and the name's not suspicious," he says with the same tone he's had the whole time.

After a quick nod and silence from hearing the guards admission, the boy goes on past the checkpoint quietly out to the dark elf city. Stepping out onto the large circular platform, he can see a large crowd gathering on another section. Countless dark elves gathering around with a tall spiky figure in the center waving it's arms dramatically. As the boy runs to get closer he can hear Atrea's voice proudly shouting from the center of the mass. However by the time he crosses the bridge to the edge of the crowd, the clapping and chattering throughout the dense crowd continues to drown it out.

"Hmm, Atrea actually got out," the boy hears a familiar woman's voice beside him. Standing there is Melanie disguised as a dark elf with a drink in one hand. She continues to watch the crowd from afar while taking sips from her straw. "Thounds like she'th making a big name for herthelf."

"You can hear what she's saying from in there?" the boy asks.

"It'th nothing note worthy," he sees her jaw twist adjusting to a voice much like Atrea's, "your leaders are deceiving you, mermaids are people too and should be seen as equals not allies." Her mouth twists again back along with her lisp, "though becauthe of her thpider body they're loving it. And a really convincing cothtume."

"I'd like to help her, but I'd need to get through this crowd."

"Hmm," Melanie hums to herself with a devious smile growing, "I could do that."

The boy understands her tone and huffs out a sigh before turning to her, "What's the catch?"

"Oh nothing, just hold my hand for a bit," she holds out her arm while trying to look friendly.

He looks at it suspiciously, "That's all?"

"I'll give you thith one for free, everything'th going bad anyway tho I'll help you jutht cauthe I feel like it."

With one deep breath, the boy firmly grabs the demons hand. He feels her gently squeeze back before turning herself from him to looking back into the crowd.

"Now it's going to be a tight thqueeze, you may want to hold your breath but try not to close your eyeth. As soon as I let go, you'll be there."

"Be whe-" Before he can finish, the two sink into the floor. Like dropping through shadows his entire body floats down into the crystals of the platform. His eyes dip below the surface and everything goes black, he takes one last breath before holding it. A strange pulling sensation from Melainie moves them closer and then past the edge of the crowd. Above he hears the people talking in muffled whispers like hearing it through a wall. In no time they come to a stop and his body starts to rise again, he comes up standing but completely disoriented before feeling Melanie's grip disappear.

He sees he's in the center of a ring of dark elves watching in astonishment with Atrea in her strange getup standing right beside him. Atrea looks shocked at first before resuming her composure, she shouts to the crowd boisterous and proudly, "Ah yes, I have summoned this human as a demonstration."

Melanie is no where to be seen, but he does notice a small black shadow slide across the ground back into the crowd and disappearing.

"Now then, humans," Atrea announces, directing an open arm towards the boy as she walks around him showing him off to the dark elves watching, "what is your view of these creatures?"

Numerous people shout from the crowd, "They're ugly and short."

"Dumber than tree huggers."

"Only live for five years."

"Hey," the boy talks back, only for Atrea to put a finger over his mouth before he can rant. He plays a long and reluctantly quiets himself.

With a wave of her arms their shouting settles. "Yes yes, all of that's true." It's a little scary as the boy watches how much control she has over them. "But have you ever considered what they have to offer you?" She gives a moment of pause for the people to talk among themselves, "I see dark elves go on how you're better than every other creature, and maybe you're right, but tell me human," she says before turning back to him, "how do you deal with the blinding sun?"

"Huh?" he's suddenly put on the spot with nothing planned.

"The sun, the reason the dark elves can't live on the surface and yet you stare straight into it every day."

"I mean, we don't stare into it all the time. Uh, if I'm spending a lot of time outside I'll sometimes wear sunglasses to block out the light."

The crowd reacts in awe as if only now hearing of the concept. Atrea flicks her wrist and suddenly holds a pair of glasses before placing them on him. It's suddenly apparent to him they're just a set of reading glasses with web covering the inside, probably taken from her apartment. "You see, as weak as humans are they find creative solutions to things even you struggle with. It might be worth listening to them." The crowd applauds and cheers as Atrea encourages them to keep going.

The boy, feeling like a prop in all this, just claps along with the webbed up glasses on. As long as it's working he doesn't need to help her.

"Now then, about your mermaid allies," Atrea signals to the crowd to listen to her again, "What have you learned from your contact from them to benefit yourselves?"

The crowd remains silent with only a few murmurs coming from the front line. No one has a clear answer.

"Just as I though, I've been watching your behavior with your allies and it is disappointing to say the least. Not only have you not learned anything from the mermaids, but you are still very distant from them making a mockery of the term allies. The moment one of their many friends turns on you, the mermaids will abandon you and side with them instead leaving you with no benefit from this alliance."

"We should attack them first," a random person calls out from the crowd. The rest of the dark elves start to agree with them getting riled up.

"Silence!" Atrea shouts from the center. In an instant they're under her control again. "Fighting your allies won't gain you anything. What you should do instead is learn to strengthen your bond with them. Go watch the Little Mermaid in their city and enjoy their stories. Be nicer to races they're friends with including humans. And stop respecting them just cause they don't have any legs and like to put their women into powerful positions. From now on you will not see them as allies but friends."

The crowd cheers again, possibly agreeing with what she has to say or still just amazed she has eight legs, but they're cheering anyways. The boy joins in vigorously clapping along with them as she holds out her arms standing tall. The crowd continues before slowing down as a small bulge starts to slowly part through them, a section of the crowd opens up to reveal a blue mermaid rolling forward in a mechanical wheelchair with four armed elf guards escorting her. From her elegant clothes and headdress it can only be Grand Duchess Ullasset, and she does not look pleased.


	30. Chapter 27 pt 2

"Perfect timing," Atrea calls out as she walks towards the royal mermaid. "I want all of you to show your appreciation to this woman. Show her how much you value your alliance, no, you friendship with-"

"Enough of this," Ullasset interupts her. She turns to her guards and signals, "Clear this area imediatly. Everyone is to go back to their homes and for get what they've seen." The guards nod and begin pushing people from the crowd away.

"Hey, what's going on?" the boy says.

"Human, when I gave you that key I was hoping you would cheer Atrea up, not take her out to the other city and rile up the civilians."

"It was her idea," he replies nervously.

"I'm just doing what you brought me here for," Atrea steps between them, sounding a lot less theatrics and more serious, "I've noticed very few dark elves in may audience so I thought it would be appropriate to take myself to them."

The mermaid lets out a sigh as she rolls herself to face Atrea, "I have to say the mission has been very ineffective as I originally feared, but the goal was never to approach the dark elves directly." Looking to her guards as most of the people have been moved out of the section, she turns around and begins to roll away. "If you're as dissatisfied with the results as I am, we can send you back to the humans without anymore issues."

In no time, Atrea responds, "No." As she said it so bold and determined, Ullasset is forced to turn herself back around, "I don't feel the play is the problem, dark elves in general are disinterested in being friends with mermaids or treating them as equals. Unless that's fixed they're never going to ally with anyone. I do want to help both of you but you cna't just send me off because this play isn't doing enough. I'm staying even if you don't want me."

Her speach is heard by some of the people sitll in the area, before they were being pushed out but upon hearing her they start pushing back and chear her on. The guards, too few in numbers, can't seem to force them to leave without letting more come back.

Just then, a comotion is seen at the distant checkpoint where they entered. A female dark elf forces her way through jumps on top of the crowds of people and past the guards. Covered in scratches and cuts, she lands right between them as it's revealed to be Mizryn. Exhausted from her stunts, she takes a short knee as she breathes heavily.

"Oh good," Ullasset comments, "you're the one working for the humans, am I right? If you don't mind I'd appreciate if you took Atrea back."

"Sorry ma'am, I can't rightfully do that," Mizryn says pulling herself up. "Vandree told me everything, Atrea wasn't brought here to mend relations, but to make the mermaids more sympathetic towards dark elves. Of course it hasn't been working out and it appears Atrea has figured that out too."

Ullasset rolls herself around and in a frustrated voice talks back, "So what's the problem? Take her back. She's not enjoying her time here and we're not getting much use out of her."

"That's just it, if I try to force her she'll just find her way back here and cause you more problems. Clearly the only course of action is to let her stay until satisfied you'll start working together."

Atrea looks around for a moment, seeing all the dark elves watching intently at the scene. She adjusts her crown once more and readies her voice before beginning another performance, "Your rulers don't know what's best for you so I am taking possession of my people back from them. I demand a word with those in charge so that we may discuss relations with the mermaids. I promise I won't let you simply break off connections with them."

Mizryn steps over to the boy and whispers as she's talking out to the crowd, "How long has she been like this?"

"I've only seen this today, but probably since she started her acting career."

Tightening a fist in her chair, the mermaid stares up at Atrea, "So that's how it's going to be." She pulls herself up from her seat as her head starts to rise up, her body leaves the wheelchair as her face rises close to Atrea's with her head dangling below. Everyone looks in disbelief before she lifts up one hand and grabs the purple jewel on her necklace, her lapis eyes flash red as all her color melts away. Her fair skin turns an ash black and a tall slim body forms beneath reaching to the ground. The whites of her eyes go black and her headdress is replaced by a fan of upward facing spikes. Her new form is an especially tall dark elf woman, upon seeing her all the dark elves in the crowd fall to their knees and bow to.

"What?" the boy mutters in disbelief.

"Matron Mother Mezba'zan," Mizryn answers for him, "leader of the dark elves."

"You wanted to talk with me directly," she says with her same regal voice, now sounding more sharp and colder, "anything you have to say to the mermaids you can say to me. Especially when it involves my people and what you think they should be doing."

Atrea takes a moment to gather her confidence again and then confronts the dark elf woman, "You'll never get the mermaids to like you unless you accept them as well. I've been showing your play to them for a while and I can see there are still no mermaids visiting your city. You need to get dark elves interested in what mermaid have to offer if you want this friendship to work."

"Friendship?" she scoffs, "This was never about inviting mermaids into our city, it's about getting them to cooperate with us. If it's not working then we might as well cut off relations now and find someone else."

"You really think this is best for them, staying in the dark looking down on everyone else? I saw many demi-humans with mermaids even in a city connected to yours, if you can't change yourself to be more appealing to them then you're not going to make allies anywhere else."

"What's there to change? We're perfect in every way."

Atrea starts to look angry before waving her arms towards the boy, "Human, I summon you again."

He takes one look at the tall elf woman as he's forced to back a step back, "I think I'd rather stay out of this."

"Just get over here," Atrea shouts at him.

He anxiously move closer next to Atrea, being this close Mezba'zan towers over him with a disapproving stare.

"What do you plan to do with this weakling? Even if the mermaid alliance doesn't work out humans are probably the last race we'd consider next."

"Boy, tell her the first thing I did when I got to your house."

"Um..." he tries to remember as he's under pressure, but after some thought it suddenly comes to him, "Oh right, I showed you to your room in the attic and you asked for free food."

"Exactly, and what did we do the next day?"

"You... stayed in your room asking for food."

"And after that?"

"More of the same for about a week."

Mezba'zan interrupts, "I don't see where this is going."

"Shh, he's getting to the best part," Atrea says excitedly. "Anyways, wasn't I happy locking myself in that attic?"

"I guess but it seemed like a terrible way to spend your time so when I saw you had dolls made of your own web I thought I could use that to... get you to go outside."

Atrea turns back to the elf woman, "Even if you think dark elves are perfect and don't need anyone else, there's a lot you can improve on. I would have never seen so many people, movies or foods if I just stayed locked up thinking it couldn't get any better. That's why you need to open up your people to show you new thing. Maybe it won't all be great, you can keep hating Mind Flayers and Centaurs if you want."

"I actually like Centaurs," Mezba'zan comments, "they're brave fighters even if they need four legs."

"That doesn't matter, the point is if you never go out and see what else is in the world you'll be missing out on stuff you would have liked. Give up relations with the mermaids and hoping to find someone just like you is just locking yourselves up more."

"She's right, mother." As Atrea finishes, another dark elf walks forward. Like Mizryn she's all scratched up with one arm holding the other over a large bruise. Right behind her is the green mermaid assistant quietly following behind. She limps forward towards Mezba'zan as they both look on one another, "I've seen the human's society for my self and they have almost every demi-human there is living with them. The expo especially showed how open they are to everyone's ideas and methods not to see who is better but to get the best of everyone."

Mezba'zan turns to her looking down, "Are you saying dark elves aren't the stronge-"

"I'm saying we could do better by adopting what other races have. This is why I suggested we solve our problem with a play combining both our cultures, the mermaids would take more of an interest in us and hopefully it would introduce their stories to our people. I even tried to get a real Arachne to show how progressive we're willing to be. But as you've seen we've only been showing it to mermaids as dark elves become more disinterested in them and nothing has really changed."

After some thought, Mizryn walks forward to help stabilize Vandree. "I've worked with many different races while with the humans. Coming back I can say dark elves aren't any better treating all other races as lesser, and it certainly doesn't look good to anyone we're trying to befriend."

The dark elf woman looks between everyone around her before letting out a heavy sigh, "I see. So that's how it is. We really do need to open up more."

Vandree pulls herself up on Mizryn to say one more thing, "You have no idea how hard it was to get Atrea good movies past our censorship, let alone get people to recreate them."

She walks over to the green mermaid, still standing tall but with a more relaxed gaze, "Well Miss Ullasset, perhaps I should let you decide our next course of action."

The mermaid looks back with a smile, "Well, I do like the idea of holding plays in your city. It'd be a good start and I know some crowd pleasers that would get some mermaids to come over."

"Very well then."  
As they're talking, Vandree turns to Atrea, "Well, it looks like you'll be busy with more shows, Atrea."

"Oh no, I'm done with all this," she answers back as she removes her crown, "I got the dark elves to consider working with the mermaids more and that's done. I need to get back to my human's house."

"Wha- but-" Vandree gasps, though just about everyone has the same reaction.

"You said it yourself, it's impossible to get good movies down here. Until that gets fixed I'll be staying on the surface."

"Alright, I'll see what I can do." Vandree shakes herself off of Mizryn and limps her way over to Mezba'zan, not before one look back with a smile on her face.

With everything peacefully solves, Mizryn claps her hands together, "Alright, now we can head back home."

"Aww, can't we stop somewhere to eat first? One last plate and then we'll go, you never know when we'll be back." Atrea starts to look around across the dark elf city, just then Mizryn slaps a pair of handcuffs over their arms.

"We're leaving, NOW. No more distractions."

Reluctantly, Atrea went along with her. The two of them and the boy walked out of the city and hiked back to the surface. Mizryn drove them back to the airport and they flew back to the boy's home country. Atrea went back to living with the boy for more adventures. The boy was winded by the trip but it was all worth it to know Atrea was happy and in the place she wanted to be.


	31. Chapter 28

Ch 28

The sun rises on a new day over the boy's house. After just getting back from the dark elf city, he's ready to get back to his usual routine along with Atrea. To start the day, he begins making french toast in the kitchen as the air gains the faint scent of cinnamon. Atrea usually only asks him to cook her meat, but every so often he tries to give her something new. Breads have been more successful and maybe sugar will make it more agreeable for her, but just in case he has a small pan of chicken grilling right beside the toast pan.

As he's cooking, he hears the scratching of of Atrea's legs along the tile floor. He looks to the open archway into the kitchen to greet her. She's back to wearing her black minimalist bra and skirt, at first he's pleased to see her up so early, but becomes concerned by the troubled look on her face. Her body hunched over with her arms wrapped around themselves. The scratching sounds become louder, coming from her claws as they run along her forearms scraping against the chitin.

"Is everything alright?" the boy asks.

Hastily she replies,"Fine, fine," her eyes darting around the room for a brief moment before turning back to the ground. The scratching slowly becomes more intense with the noise becoming more grating.

"Well, alright." Without much else to go on he takes her word for it and turns back to his cooking. "It's nice to see you up so early, would you like some breakfast?"

"No, I'm not feeling hungry today."

The boy turns back to Atrea in shock. He asks again, "Are you sure there's nothing you want to talk about?"

"I'm fine, don't worry about it. What are you even worried about?"

"Something is bothering you and it's enough to make you of all people stop eating. If you say the scratching is nothing that's fine, but I've lived with you long enough to know you never miss a meal. You hadn't eaten last night if I remember, and now you turn down breakfast this morning, that's what worries me."

Atrea looks at her arms and moves her hands down together, holding one with the other to stop the scratching. "Alright there is one thing bothering me but, it's a bit embarrassing."

"Are you hurt in some way?"

"No, it's not like that. I'm just feeling a little, what's the word for it... bloated?"

"Oh," he responds. He can see why she'd be so evasive with the issue. No one enjoys being called fat, let alone admit it to someone else. He turns back to the stove, making sure the chicken is stirring and flipping a slice of toast. "Well it's not healthy to stop eating all together. If you want I could give you less but you have to eat something."

Atrea sighs sadly, "I don't know if that would be enough. Don't humans have something to deal with this?"

"I've tried to monitor what foods you eat and not over feed you. But then again," he thinks to himself, "you do eat jerky on the side of that, and I wasn't doing your food for a while."

"Oh yeah, Vandree gave me a lot more while I was acting for her," she smiles for a moment before reverting back to her dejected state, "that probably made this worse."

"Nothing you can do to change past mistakes, all you can do now is start proper diet and exercise."

"Exercise?" she perks up with confusion, "like removing ghosts?"

"That would be ex-Or-si-," the boy starts to correct her before stopping himself, "like working your muscles, running, losing calories so you weigh less."

"Huh, so humans do have a special technique. Do you think it could help me with... what I have?"

"It couldn't hurt, I've been meaning to get myself to be more active too." He notices the chicken has finished cooking. After quickly moving it on a plate, along with taking a bite from two slices of french toast and moving the rest to the same plate, he dashes past the table after placing it. "If you wouldn't mind, eat a little so you have some energy when we start. "

Atrea takes a long look at the food as she tightens a fist, letting out a deep breath she replies, "If this'll help me feel better, I'll do it."

"Great. I'll go get ready myself. You don't have to eat it all but it's not good to start on an empty stomach." As he runs out of the room, he chews a bite of his eggy bread sandwich as he leaves the room, "and drink some water, that's going to be important." He runs out and up the stairs, leaving Atrea to herself and the plate of food.

After a few minutes, the boy returns wearing more athletic clothes with a loose fit and short sleeves. On his way down he notices Atrea in the living room. "Did you get enough to eat?" he asks energetically making short leaps down the stairs with a permanent smile on his face.

"Y-yeah," she says, scratching at her arms again.

"Alright." To keep up the energy he begins leaning to one side bending on knee and lifting the opposite arm over his head. Stretching his joints, or at least any bits he can remember from years ago and a quick internet search, before repeating the motion with his other limbs. "First, we need to loosen up by stretching."

"Um, alright," Atrea goes along, casually stretching her arms over her head and lightly bending her legs. "How does this help?"

"It's just warming up so you don't cramp up or pop something while doing the real work."

"Ahh, I see." She tries to mimic some of the boy's movements as he continues to do more stretching maneuvers. She keeps up with her own halfhearted efforts, until he starts reaching for his toes without bending the legs. Whenever she sees a move her own body is incapable of she simply does her own thing for a moment.

After finishing twisting his hips, the boy makes a loud clap with his hands, "Right, that should be good. Lets start with a smooth jog. One lap around the neighborhood."

"You mean like, running?"

"Just try to keep up an even pace," the boy comforts her as he opens the front door. He hurries to the sidewalk waiting patiently for Atrea to catch up as he continues to smile. "Go ahead and take the lead, I'll follow behind."

They begin running but it's quickly apparent Atrea isn't a fast runner on her Arachne legs. The boy started full of energy ready to do his best but slowly loses enthusiasm as he's left jogging in place most of the time before stowing to a fast walk. His smile drops as he watches Atrea appear winded at the second corner, a while longer he calls for them to turn back towards the house about a third of the planned distance.

As they return, Atrea nearly falls to her knees walking in as the boy stands tall above her. He's still breathing heavily from keeping up with her but he remains standing tall. As they settle back in, he lifts his hands above his head and begins to take deep breaths, "Try to keep your air way open, it better for your lungs after a hard workout."

"Huuu, huuu, huh?" Atrea looks at him tired and somewhat annoyed, but soon copies his motion. She raises her arms and tries to stand on her eight legs. "Yeah, using my lungs instead of diffusing through my abdomen, good idea."

"Uh, yeah." The boy takes a few more breaths, even after he feels refreshed he gives Atrea an extra minute to relax before lowering his arms. "Alright, next lets do some push ups."

"Okay, how do we do those?"

"First you get on your stomach an-" as he looks at Atrea's body he reconsiders trying to get her to do them. "On second thought maybe we could try sit ups?"

"Sit... up?" She starts bending her knees gently.

As she looks down at them with confusion, the boy wracks around the idea of her getting on her back before canceling the idea. "Okay, lets just go to weight lifting." Bending down to a cupboard, he pulls out three pairs of colored dumbbells in different sizes. "It couldn't be simple just grab a weight and curl your arm," he demonstrates with a small one.

Atrea grabs the opposite dumbbell and slowly copies his motion with ease. She begins to smile as her pace steadily speeds up, "Huh, this is pretty easy."

"Well that's just the smallest one," he says as he grabs the second heaviest before handing it to her, "try this one."

Atrea drops the light weight to the ground before quickly pulling her arm back with the next one. "Whoa, so this is doing work." She keeps up the same pace as with the smaller one and slowly increases her speed, going back to her heavy breathing.

"Hey take it easy, you don't have to do it so fast, just take it-"

A sudden snapping noise cracks through the room. The dumbbell slams to the floor just missing her leg, Atrea is too busy inspecting her arm as she looks in horror, a long white crack has split down her left forearm. Her face looks like it wants to scream out in pain but is too shocked to say anything.

"Atrea, are you alright?"

"No, not right now," she rushes into the kitchen without another word.

A rustling sound can be heard in the metal utensils drawer before the boy can follow her. As he enters, Atrea darts past him again and scurries up the wall to the second floor, neither have time to say anything. He looks to see the silverware scattered on the floor, a few knives and forks but especially spoons. Looking to the table, he notices the food he left for her, the same place he left it almost untouched. 'Something must be very wrong,' the boy thinks to himself. He turns around and makes his way to the stairs. As he climbs up, he can hear the same scratching sounds from this morning, starting soft but slowly growing in volume. The attic ladder had been left wide open, echoing from the attic getting harsher and more violent as he reaches the next floor, joined by frustrated grunts from Atrea.

"Atrea, are you up there?" he calls up from the top of the stairs beginning his approach t the open ladder.

"Er, come on, break already."

The boy grabbed on and crept up the ladder into the attic, trying to keep quiet as to not startle her, but also afraid for what he might see. Poking his head into the darkness above, he saw Atrea clearly in a hint of light from the faint sunlight streaming in. She was turned away from the entrance struggling with herself. Looking closer, it seemed like she's pressing the spoon harshly along her back. "Atrea, are you-" He meekly tries to get her attention, but is interrupted by a long painful moan drowning him out. He pulls himself into the attic and crouches down as she's too busy to notice him.

Atrea continues to scrap her back with the spoon. The sound from the metal spoon is like scraping a chalkboard as small chunks are stripped off. "Al-most... THERE." With one last push she forces the spoon down the back of her abdomen creating a long gash. She tosses the spoon across the room not caring where it landed as it bounces against the wall with a kling, she then sinking her claws into the crevasse trying to force it open. In a sudden burst her back splits wide open making a dreadful crack as she continues to force it to stay open. As she pulls it apart, another layer is revealed. The dull black armor slowly opens showing a clean dark purple skin.

"Um, is everything okay Atrea?" The boy shyly asks. He knows she can't hear him even if he shouted but he might as well try.

"Come on, you can do this." After forcing the black shell apart for half a minute, it snaps wide enough for the shell to slip down to the top of her legs. With a little wiggling of her lower half, she step out with her new legs out of the shell with a bright purple color, tenderly reaching to the ground with them one at a time. Atrea works herself out of the black husk before raising her left arm, the one that was cracked earlier. She easily pealing the chitin off, starting from the elbows like a glove. With all tension released, she calms down with steady breathing, only distracted by her right arm with the old covering still on it as her fresh hand gently runs along it. As she begins to relax, Atrea notices the boy had been watching the whole thing.

"Eek," she squeaks before trying to cover herself with her limbs, her legs pull back along her abdomen while her arms cover one another over her breasts, even though she still has her top on and only one can be covered at all. "Don't walk in on someone while they're taking their skin off." A strange phrase the boy probably would have never heard if he wasn't living with a giant arthropod.

"I'm sorry, but... you broke you hand... and... I saw you didn't eat and... you took a spoon to do... uhhh."

She lets out another frustrated grunt before stamping towards him. The first stamp appears painful and her next steps are more gently, "I told you, I was going through... this. Wasn't that what the exercise was for, to make shedding easier?"

"Shedding?" the boy questions, "exercise is to lose weight."

"Then how-"

"I'm sorry, humans just shed off small flakes of skin at a time, it's never that hard for us. Weight gain is a bigger issue for us."

Atrea tries to talk back but can't think of anything he did wrong, she simply frowns and turns away from him. "Well, it's done. The last bit is always hardest to do and my other arm got busted pulling those weights."

"Okay," he says remorsefully, "I'm sorry I didn't understand you better, but if I may your new skin looks very pretty."

She lets out a soft sigh, "It's temporary, it always looks different before it hardens and goes back to the normal color. It just feels really sensitive for a while."

"Can I help you with your last arm?"

Shocked by his boldness she reals back, but after looking at her arm again she quietly offers it to him as she pouts in the other direction, "Just make it quick."

The boy firmly grabs the arm before applying pressure to the edges, as he pulls it outward it slowly slides off making an uncomfortable wet sound. He then drops the shedded piece with the pile of Atrea's body and other hand. "Anyway, why didn't you eat before we started exercising?"

"Don't you kno- er, you get a stomach ache if you eat too soon when shedding. It feels awful some days but after a while it should be just like the old one."

"Oh that's too bad. But you can still walk right?"

"Yeah, a little. I can't go jogging again for a while even if I-"

"That's not what I mean."

After slowly getting Atrea down stairs with her new feet, the boy spent the afternoon watching movies with Atrea until her skin recovered. It slowly returned to it's dark color, and her appetite also returned with it as she scarfed down the chicken from earlier this morning. But she also gave the toast a try with a simple delight. Hopefully he'll be ready next time when she needs to shed her skin, and hopefully she doesn't grow too much making it harder to take off.

* * *

 **A/N** : Small mention to scl04 for the story idea (Atrea gets chubby and needs to exercise). I'm trying to keep these stories more serious (no beach episode or other harem stuff) but I decided I'd work it in when I felt like it. I don't mind suggestions for chapter ideas but it's my story and I say what goes in. This took me longer to get started but after rethinking the idea of her shedding at the same time I think it turned out good (always amaze myself when I type more than 4 pages). If anyone's still reading after that Dark Elf plot line, hi, and thanks for taking interest for this long. Hopefully I can get another chapter or two next month, or a job.


	32. Chapter 29 (Halloween Special)

Ch 29

Late at night as rain pours outside, all the lights across the house are out except for the flickering TV in front of Atrea. Laid out along the couch as the boy has gone to bed early, again she is left alone to watch movies. This time she knows not to take them so literal, or at least there's no reason to think the events are happening right now, continuously swapping them out gently for the next. It lonely watching them alone, talking about them with the boy is always more fun but she wants to get through them all quickly. Everything feels quiet until-

"Thump, Thump, Thump," an odd sound from the front of the house, like something heavy knocking on the door distracting Atrea. It's strange, no one could be outside at this time. It's late and raining so hard, and it's not like the boy has many friends to begin with. It must have been her imagination. "Thump, Thump, Thump," the sound immediately continues just as she's about to put it out of her mind. Atrea tries not to let it bother her and gets back to her movies. Whoever it is probably has the wrong place, and if they do they can wait until tomorrow when the boy can answer it. "Thud, Bump, Slam," the banging gets louder, it's not just heavy knocking anymore but violent pounding. "Thud," and the sounds are getting more frequent, whoever it is they can't be ignored anymore. "Thud," Atrea gets up to open the door, slowly walking towards it having to listen to the noise along the way, "Slam." Walking quickly she reaches the door and opens it.

"Uuuaahh." Atrea backs away as something horrid stands there at the entrance making a terrible moan. About as tall as her, it's not a demi-human but it could hardly be described as human. Their pale green skin looks rotted and deformed with stitches roll all across the thing's face and down the throat to the rest of it's body, covered in a tattered white sheet formed into a dress. Body parts all around the body look misshapen, uneven or sagging like they were put together from spare parts. Their eyes are completely obscured by messy orange bangs as long as the hair on the side of their head, from there she notices two rusty spikes jutting out. The creature shuffles in with a limp into the home as it continues to moan, "Aaauuhrrr."

Atrea doesn't know what to do. Call the boy down? She'd never get him up, and what could he do in this situation. Try to string it with web? It looks too strong, wasting time with that would only allow it to get closer. Quickly she looks around for something to throw.

"Aaaaay. Aaaaay." The thing stops before turning it's head, the sound didn't come from it but the TV. Atrea had left a movie playing as the creature looks to it with fascination. The sound comes from a woman trying to learn to pronounce words better, "Aaaaay."

"Aaaaay," the creature repeats the sound with a soft feminine voice. It moves away from Atrea and towards the TV before tripping over the couch. It then sets itself back up quietly taking a seat before watching.

Atrea tries to talk with it, still nervous of it's presence, "D-do you want to watch?"

The creature grunts before returning to motionless silence as it focuses on the movie. Atrea anxiously sits beside them to, keeping an eye on the person beside them.

The movie continues, something about a man teaching a girl to speak properly. It almost looks like torture, forcing her to do bizarre things to get the right sounds and threatening to not give her chocolate. Atrea can't help but be remembered of her own English lessons. The monster would sometimes repeat the words of the girl, "Thy raynSpane stais mainly in the plain." In the end, the man seemed to have succeeded as the girl spoke and acted well, but afterwards he just ignored her without giving her any more purpose. But even after treating her like a prize and making her sad, she eventually came back to him. As the credits rolled, Atrea just assumed that was a happy ending.

The creature beside her made a small clap with it's hands with a smile across it's face.

"You liked that one?" Atrea asked, trying to get a look at it's eyes through her hair.

She nods with an eager grunt, "Happy story, good singing. Girl made happy." She's speaking clearly but her voice still sounds very raspy as she hunches over still staring at the TV.

Atrea looks out to see it's still raining, lightning streaks across the darkened sky before thunder booms past the house. This thing she's with would be miserable if she were to tell it to leave now, and it seems to be having a nice time watching movies with her.

"Another?" the things asks, though it was exactly what Atrea was thinking.

"Yeah, you can stay for another. You behaved well enough for that one." She gets up to take the disk out of the player and put in another, just before stopping halfway and turning around. "But can I ask what your name is? Or what demi-human you are?"

"Demi?"

"You know, I'm a spider, there are snakes and birds, you look like you're human but..." as Atrea is talking, the being looks at their pale hands. Maybe it's the lighting but her deformations aren't as bad as she previously thought, maybe she's just a confused, green human. "It's just feels odd sitting next to someone without asking who they are, ya know?"

"Fran," she groans, "name me Fran."

"Oh, alright." Atrea reaches for another movie to put in before trying to read out the title. "We'll watch this one next then Fran, Two thousand one... Specia, O- Oda-... um, it's probably a remake of something anyway, I'll have to remember to watch this with the boy." She puts the movie in before returning to the couch next to the girl in a white dress. Fran sets her legs up on the couch with her arms locked around in anticipation. "Are you sure you can see alright with your hair in your face," Atrea ask.

"Mhm," she mumbles with a janky nod before returning to silence.

It starts with some scenes of monkeys for several minutes. Atrea had seen older movies and was told by the boy "they hadn't figured out how to make good movies," but this felt so slow and boring. Then they find this strange black rectangle before it seems to just cut to a different movie. Something about an evil computer but Atrea started to zone out throughout the movie. Losing interest in the story, she looked over to the person next to her, who continues staring at the movie intently. It's strange, Atrea could have sworn her dress was messier than it is now, and her skin looks pale but she's sure she remembers it being green an hour ago.

After some time, the movie finishes. Fran looks on in awe, meanwhile Atrea quickly straightens up after losing track of everything going on. "Oh, is it over? Uh, sorry I thought that would be more interesting."

"Actually I thought it was amazing," Fran said happily, "the ideas in every scene, how it goes from gaining new technology to losing control of it to no longer needing it. I think we should watch it again."

"No," Atrea responds out of fear, having to sit through that again. "I've got more movies to watch, maybe after the boy wakes up you can talk with him about watching it again."

"Boy? Oh, you did mention him before, the human you're living with?"

"Yeah, he's usually very friendly to new people. I'm sure if you just talk with him he'll understand."

She simply looks away nervously.

"Anyway, what do we have next? Th-The Rum?" Atrea looks at the cover, the person on it looks a drunk with their eyes drifting off with his hair in a mess, almost angry looking. Even the title had a strange distorting effect to it like an optical illusion. "An alcoholic's story? Could be a drama or something."

Fran looks over her shoulder at the same cover, "it's Room."

"Really?" she ponders after looking at the title again, "maybe it's supposed to be a horror movie, doesn't he look like a psycho?"

As the movie plays, it's nothing like she was expecting, although Atrea's first idea was pretty close. The story is about this strange man who can barely talk giving gifts to his girlfriend who gets to stays in his fancy home. However the girlfriend ends up seducing his best friend and lying to her mother about the man abusing her. There's more going on in each scene but nothing the characters do or say seems to make sense. The main character especially acts especially strange, laughing when it's inappropriate, doing things even the strangest humans wouldn't do, Atrea knows it's just an actor but she has to wonder if the man even knows English. Later the girlfriend comes out with the affair with him, leading to him committing suicide.

After the movie ends, Atrea didn't know what to think. "Was that a foreign film? They all seemed to speak weird. But I guess there was an actual plot to it. What did you think?"

Fran stands up to get up to remove the disk from the player, looking at it in frustration before turning to Atrea, "I can't believe something like this has already happened. I felt so bad for Johnny after he did everything he could for the people he loved and the one closes to him just stabbed him in the back."

Atrea looks back at the woman worried before trying to calm her down, "Take it easy, it's just a movie."

"Just a movie?" Fran waves her hand across her face, brushing her hair aside as her amber eyes glow through the dim room, looking at Atrea with a serious stare, "I've never seen a better example of everything wrong with my life until this. A person with nothing but love only ashamed he can't get more, and then the love of his life just runs off."

Suddenly, lightning strikes the roof of the house, the windows glow with pure light as the air explodes with sound. The TV suddenly goes out and any lights that were left on are suddenly left dead. Atrea and Fran are left in pitch darkness with only the woman's amber eyes glowing through it.

"I used to love humans," Fran begins speaking somberly, "how beautiful they looked, the way they talked to one another, the wonderful things they could make, how even after hard times they can forgive one another. But seeing this, the story of a man who was rejected by his own creation leading to his own death, how any human can be evil when this masterpiece exists for all to see, I'm fed up with this world."

"Atrea, are you alright?" Before Atrea can respond to Fran, a dim light moves along the top floor. The boy comes into view holding a small candle before stepping down the stairs, "I think a bolt of lightning blew a fuse, luckily not much was actually on. You're not hurt are you?"

"I'm fine, I was just watching movies with a friend."

"Oh alri- friend?" The boy turns around to see them, a beautiful red headed woman with messy hair in a white wedding dress. Two shiny brass spikes stick from the side of her head gleaming in the dim light. She covers her eyes from the light of the candle.

"Her name's Fran, she just came in from the storm last night while you were asleep and we watched movies together."

"Could you please move the fire away, I'm a bit photosensitive," she says politely.

The boy puts his hand over the candle to block the light, "Atrea you can't just let random strangers into our house. Or, you should if it's raining, but... look if I'm not asleep, don't let random people in."

Atrea thinks to herself for a moment about what he said, "Okay."

"Well good, I'm gonna go get the lights back on." As he's leaving, there's a polite knock at the door. All three of them turn to look at it, the whole room goes silent except for the sound of a light drizzle of rain outside, then the two demi-humans look back to the boy with his candle. He holds his face with a deep grunt, "Okay, you can answer that one. I'll be back in just a minute."

The boy leaves the room, flipping a few light switches on his way out. Atrea walks back to the door to answer it, Fran standing just behind her. At the door, holding a large flashlight shining in, is a short round looking man with glasses. Atrea remembers him well, Mr. Tanner.

"Excuse me, have you seen an escaped zombie demi-human this evening? She's fairly tall in white rags and may be acting erratically."

"You!" Fran exclaims in anger as she reveals herself to the man.

He sees her and is awestruck by her beauty. "Darling," he calls back extending his arms happily, only to be slapped down by the woman.

"Don't touch me motherfage," she yells incoherently, her eyes flare with anger as the man gets on his knees, "you gave me life just seven hours and forty eight minutes ago and ran away the instant you saw me."

"You don't understand, you clearly weren't ready yet. I thought I did something wrong or created a monster, I ran for my own safety. But now that I see you've gotten better-"

"Now that you see me now, you want me back?"

His eyes dart to the sides before he answers with a lack of confidence, "Yes?"

She turns away in disgust, going back to pick up the movie she just watched. Atrea, goes over to try and comfort her. "Okay, that guy is just trash. Believe me I've met him before, but not all humans are like that."

Fran thinks to herself for a moment just before the lights come back on. The boy soon hurries into the room. "Alright, looks like everything's working."

"You, skinny human," Fran points towards the boy.

"Wh-Me?"

"You're Atrea's creator, is that true?"

The boy looks completely lost, unable to give a straight answer. "Well no, but I guess? I taught her everything she-"

"Yes," Atrea interrupts. "This boy made me, we've spent nearly a year together and he's never let me down. It doesn't matter if it's horse women, dark elves or evil robots, he's never abandoned me.

"Atrea wha-"

"Just because that man is terrible to you doesn't mean you should give up on all humans. Remember Elisa and the doctor, I've watched plenty of movies where there's a happy ending more than where it ends in tragedy."

Fran looks back at the man in disgust again, seeing him try to give a fake smile.

"If a lot of people love each other, the world would be a better place to live," Atrea says again.

Fran lets off a small smile towards her, and with one more nod she heads for the door looking down on the small man there. "Get out of my life. I'm going to find someone who really appreciates me."

"What, no, please," Mr. Tanner begs at her feet as she walks out, the rain has cleared and the sun begins to shine over the hills, it's finally morning. "I love you," he calls out one last time to her before she suddenly leaps into the air, landing on the rooftop of the next door house. She jumps again to another home and another before disappearing into the sunrise. Mr. Tanner finally picks himself up, "Aw man, I spent $5000 to get her. And now she's just gone."

"You bought her?" The boy screams with a hint of anger.

"Not like that, some scientist lost his lab and gave me his stuff on sale. Part of that was an unawakened Frankenstein monster, a special kind of zombie. So I was thinking, 'free girlfriend' but after seeing her for the first time... well, I panicked."

"You ran away from her the second she came alive?"

The man nervously scoots towards the boy, getting close to his ear to whisper, "It's her eyes, the way they looked at me." Both Atrea and the boy look at him disapprovingly, with nothing else to say, he lets himself out. "Well, sorry to disturb you. If she ever comes back let me know."

"Huh," Atrea murmurs, "I guess that's over. Well while you're away could you explain a movie to me?"

"Oh sure," he answers, "which one."

"Lets see it was 'The Room' she called it, I can't seem to find... did she take it?" Atrea looks around quickly, no where on the couch or on top of any stacks of movies can she find the case. "Oh no, I think she stole it."

"Oh," the boy groans with mild disappointment, "well don't worry too much about it. It wasn't a very good movie."

"I'd say it was better than that space one. I can't say I understood it but Fran took it way too seriously. Like you said, none of these movies actually happened."

The boy looks over to her hesitantly, and as she feels his stare from behind she looks back feeling a bit worried, "Actually, that one is somewhat based on real life. Johnny is basically the same person as the director, telling his story of a woman he knew who betrayed him. It's still not a very good movie but I guess if you look at it the right way, it's about a man who can't act or understand human interactions losing the woman he loves, which is actually very sad."

Atrea's jaw drops, it feels like her heart is about to stop. She scurries over to the boy and puts her hands on his shoulders, "That's why he can't speak properly. The man in the movie, it's actually the ghost of the man who killed himself?"

"What? No!" The boy pushes her back, "He never killed himself, he just made a bad movie trying to make it a drama but it turned into one of the funniest failures ever."

"Oh," Atrea says to herself. "Well, if it's so bad why do you have it."

"Well it's my brother's favorite movie, and besides it's fun to show to people. Sometimes a movie isn't about being good but a certain feeling it gives or the ideas it inspires."

"Huh," Atrea thinks to herself upon hearing that and looks back to the space movie sitting on top of a table. "Say, could we watch this together, and explain what it's about. Fran seemed to love it."

"Oh, that one," he says, "I mean it's fine if you don't get it the first time, I'm more of a fan of Clockwork Orange, but I don't know if I should show that to you."

"What?"

"Nothing. Sure, we'll watch Space Odyssey together." He pops the movie in and sits beside Atrea as they watch the movie together... "Now you see how the monolith is completely square and made of unnatural material, that inspires the monkeys to create tools and change their environment.."

"Oh, I see now."


	33. Chapter 30

Ch 30

Thunder echos through the building greeting Atrea as she steps in, half the building is split between a carpeted lounge area overlooking a flat wooden floor section. All across the wooden area, she sees polished aisles stretching to the back wall as people hurl rocks across them into strangely shaped white poles. The rocks crash through them as the room echos again. She had never seen anything like it before since the arcade, it's bizarre but looks fun.

She turns to the boy following just behind her, "What did you say this activity was called?"

"Bowling," he answers, "we haven't done a lot of things outside the house recently so I invited some friends to do this with."

Atrea looks again to analyze the game for herself, watching as another human sets themselves up to roll another rock directly into them. Within moments, the white sticks are set up again by a machine behind the wall as the process repeats. Somewhat barbaric for her taste, but even she admits to herself she can see the fun in breaking things."It doesn't look too complicated, like something we could just do at home."

"I guess, but it's always nice to go to a real ally with friends instead of setting up some cheap lawn bowling set. Besides we should spend more time with the people we already know." The boy walks up to the front desk and rings a small call bell. "First we have to get shoes."

Atrea looks back puzzled before lowering her gaze to her own feet, pointy and bare as usual. The boy rings the bell again as they just wait quietly with one another. Not getting a response just yet, Atrea condescendingly looks at the boy's feet, wearing the shoes he walked here in, not even a bad pair. After more silence, she speaks up bluntly to get her point across, "Do you really need new shoes at a time like this?"

"You need special shoes for the wooden area, keeps it from getting scuffed up I think." He rings the bell a few more times before an elderly woman emerges from the staff room.

With white curly hair and thick foggy glasses she quickly walks over to the desk looking up at Atrea. "Hello sir, looking to do some bowling?"

The boy raises his hand to get her attention, "Yes, we're part of the group call ahead."

"Alright," she begins scribbling something down before looking back up to Atrea, "just let me get your shoe sizes."

The boy quickly undoes one of his shoes and places it on the table for the woman as she slowly reaches to find it, patting across the table almost like she's blind.

She scans all around the shoe looking for a tag saying what size it is, adjusting her foggy glasses many times. In no time she grabs a box of shoes from beneath the counter. "There you are madam," she says gleefully to him before turning up to Atrea, "what about you sir?"

Atrea answers back, mockingly imitating the boy's voice, "Oh my beautiful demi-human wife doesn't wear shoes, if it's alright with you I'm fine with her gorgeous tootsies being bare for the world to see."

Before the boy can say anything back at her, the woman's gaze swings over to the boy as she scolds him, "Now madam, you know the rules, no outdoor shoes or bare feet on the floor." She reaches down before pulling out a line of measuring tape, "if you don't have any shoes with you, we'll just have to measure those gorgeous feet by hand." She walks around the desk before getting down on her knee beside the boy, Atrea steps in between for her spidery sharp foot can be measured. After a few flicks of the tape, the woman comes to a conclusion. "I see, so they're shaped like that."

"If it's all the same with you, I'm fine not wearing shoes," Atrea comments as she begins walking off.

"Not so fast young man," the woman cries out to stop her, "I'm sure we have a few pairs that will fit you."

After a short while, the woman returns from the back room with several pairs of boxes labeled "Crab Shoes". Designed a lot like the bowling shoes, each one laced around the tips of Atrea's feet, and after four boxes they walked down to the bowling floor, beside their lane were a set of benches and a short table, behind them stood a sort of keyboard for controlling a scoreboard above them. Atrea continuously adjusted her tight mismatched front shoes as the boy pressed the keys, "Are we having fun yet?"

"Just about," he said. "Lets set up a short game just so you can learn the rules. Go pick a ball from the rack back there."

Looking behind them along the lower wall she sees a line of brightly colored rocks with numbers labeled on them, or as the boy said they're actually meant to be balls. Placing her hand on one to feel it, it's revealed to be made of plastic, typical of humans. AS she looked over them, she noticed a rack with dark colored balls like the other players were using, tapping on them felt more solid. After feeling them out, Atrea decided on a solid black ball, grabbing it with both hands as she hauled it back over to the boy. "Okay, now do I throw it?"

"The goal is to roll it from behind that line between here and the slippery area and knock over the white pins. You get two tries each round but it's better to knock them all down in the first try."

"Hm, so just throw it and hope for the best?" Atrea confidently lines herself up, holding the ball in both hands between her legs, she prepares to push it off down the lane."

"Of course, you want to avoid rolling it into the gutters on the-"

As the boy is talking, Atrea hurls the orb as hard as she can, it rolls steadily forward before drifting towards the left. It's caught by the canal on the side before gently being carried to the end. A screen above them flashes a G word as all the pins remain standing, only for the machine in the back to seemingly taunt her by lifting them up for a moment and placing them back down.

"It's okay, lets work on technique a bit before the others get here," the boy picks up her ball as it returns through some kind of tube-table-thing, standing beside her with three of his fingers sunk into holes along the ball. "You'll have more control if you roll it like this," swinging his arm back with one leg forward, demonstrating how all the other bowlers are moving.

He hands the ball over to Atrea as she tries to fit her claws into the holes, it improves her grip but still feels a little strange. Again she prepares for another throw down the center, this time a few steps back to get a moving start. She begins moving towards the lane somewhat slanted, trying not to swing the ball through her legs, before veering her arm forward as the ball slips out of her claw and bangs onto the lane with a hard boom. It glides straight for a lot longer rumbling as it goes before drifting to the corner of the pins, tipping over two as it sways past. Atrea smiles with glee, "I hit some, did you see-", she turns around to the boy before seeing a certain Centaur coming down the steps carrying a bowling ball of her own.

Long braided hair, pointy hears, a green skirt covering her body and above average breast size, she'd know that face in an instant. "Well, when you said we'd be having a few friendly bowling games I thought you just wanted to take it easy, but now I see your friend isn't experienced enough for anything more than a casual match."

The boy turns back just now realizing Shevaun had arrived, "Glad you could make it. I wanted to teach Atrea how to bowl and it's always better with fri-"

"Shannon!" Atrea shouts dramatically, "we meet again."

"Atrea," he scolds back, "be nice to Chef Ann."

"It's pronounced Shevaun! Shə-VAHN!" Her voice raises at both of them before calming herself, "Anyway, Joshua's still getting his shoes but I thought I'd come down to say hi. Can you put my name in?"

"Sure," the boy typed into a keyboard board and another line appeared on the scoreboard, Shevaun's name was in and was set for her turn.

She prepared herself like all the other bowlers a long ways back, holding the ball infront of her face and lining up with the pins. In her leatehr horse shoes she started to gallop forward before hurling the ball underhanded down the lane, speeding straight into the pins with a crash. All of them were scattered and swept back.

Atrea looked on in envy before remembering that time with the arcade, how she was able to beat her in time. As the boy went up to take his turn, Atrea approached the Centaur, "You didn't come here just to show off did you?"

Shevaun answered refinely, proud from the strike she just rolled, "No, I just like sports and welcomed any invitation from that boy. Showing you up is just a consequence of being me."

"Really? How about a competition?"

"Competition, with you and you zero-two record so far," she snickers, "it really wouldn't be a match even if you had a team of better players."

Just what she was hoping to hear, "A team? That might be just what we need to even the odds. The boy already invited more people to play, as they come in lets set up our own teams and see who's better."

"Hmm, that sounds like an authentic challenge," she ponders to herself with a smile. Looking over they see the boy is taking his second turn, quickly she turns back to Atrea, "Alright you got a deal, four on four teams, demi-humans only. But what do you get out of this if you win?"

"Well, I'd feel better," Atrea admits, "but since he invited you just for a friendly game, lets keep it to braging rights and pride."

"I accept those terms," the two firmly shake hands, "bowling for the fate of the other's pride."

"May the best eight legs win."

"With those legs of yours, I'll only need two of mine. But I'll use all four just to not make it look too bad on you."

Finally, the boy finishes up his turn and sits back down, "Whew, that was a close spare. So Atrea it's your turn next?"

"Hey boy, we have a fun idea..."

As they kept bowling their half length game, more friends arrived and they worked out who was on who's team. All the human supervisors watched from the seats as the demi-humans split into teams of four taking out adjacent lanes for their game. Shevaun's team consisted of Melanie the demon, Olivia a young mermaid girl in a wheelchair, and Mizryn the dark elf. Atrea chose Marcus the Minotaur who had arrived with Mizryn, Angie the Lamia with two puppets for personalities of her Chimera half, and Crimson the living doll who ended up being picked last. Once the teams were set, the game began.

Marcus went up first, standing taller than any of the other demi-humans. Not even bothering to fit his thick fingers into the bowling ball, he lifted it easily with his palm before making a stylish pose as both hands grasp it. In one solid motion he forcefully rolls the ball down as eight pins are knocked down, followed by the last two. Most people knew he was part of M.O.N. Squad as a battering ram or hard muscle, but no one expected his movements to be so refined and graceful on his down time. As he went to sit back down, Mizryn gave a friendly high five from her seat, even though they're on separate teams.

Shevaun stepped up next, carrying over a ball she had brought with her, yellow with swirls of white to give it color, picked out from a special area by the front desk. She lines up her shot before leading up with a hard gallop as the ball launches from her hand and her whole body comes to a halt. A strike, just like her first roll when she arrived. Everyone gives off a light applause for the friendly match, however Shevaun gives a snide look towards Atrea as she returns a frown. Shevaun celebrates silently towards herself as she goes back, meanwhile Atrea turns her attention towards the match, learning from everyone else's methods.

Cappi, the goat puppet on Angie's right hand, tries to pick up their bright red bowling ball with his felt mouth but fails to get a good grip. After numerous attempts, the Lamia girl pulls her arm back as they exchange a sad look, Leo on her other hand makes a small nod confirming what must be done. Turning away as she closes her eyes, Angie removes the goat puppet with her mouth as he drops to the floor, revealing a fair human hand beneath. Now able to fit into the finger holes and lift the ball, with more help from Leo to hold it, Angie slithers down towards the pins and making a fair roll as five pins are knocked aside, three on a second roll. Everyone lets off another friendly round of applause for her attempt as she picks up Cappie from the floor and they all share a hug around Angie's face.

Melanie turn begins, she dusts off her skirt before taking off as her head casually bobs methodically along the way. With each step on her goat shoes a faint sound echos through the halls, all sound begins to soften as all attention is directed towards her. She had picked out a solid dark purple ball with a high weight, though she was able to lift it as if it was air. She steps into position as cold air swirls through the resting area, ambient sounds all across the building deafen even further as she remains still. In on breath she does a little spin before gently swinging the ball underhanded, it is then launched across the ally at incredible speed. The ball curls down the left side of the lane before hooking towards the center, it makes contact with the front pin as a mighty boom returns all sound to the rest of the room. To everyone's surprise, there's still a triangle of pins left after her roll, and according to the board, she only managed to knock out three and just missing the very back. Shevaun looks at her disappointed as Melanie returns a simple shrug, she's just not that good at bowling. After a more standard roll, she's able to knock down five pins along the left side.

Atrea decides to take her turn now. She walks over to the ally with her heavy black ball and lifts it up to her head for a brief moment. Once she's ready, she begins stepping forward and brings the ball down to her knees, in a quick snap she flicks her arm back as the ball is released down the lane. It's a slow roll but it keeps going somewhat straight, knocking the left side of the front pin as six pins are knocked down. Overjoyed, she claps her hands together before grabbing her ball again. She sets up again the same as before, she makes the same motion as before and the ball rolls forward again. Again it drifts gently to the left, this time missing all the remaining pins. Atrea's mood sinks as she goes to sit back down, the others applaud her anyways, it's still her best roll today even after the practice game with Shevaun.

Olivia rolls up, as a mermaid she unable to walk on land but gets around in her wheelchair, placing a bright green ball in her lap. Before her turn, Shevaun presses a button on the keyboard as a line of plastic bumpers rise along the gutter. The mermaid girl then makes a decent effort to push the ball straight as it rolls towards the edge, bouncing off the bumpers before rolling into five pins. Atrea's jaw dropped as she didn't even know they were part of the game. Olivia makes another roll, again bouncing off a bumper before knocking down another three pins. Everyone gave a hardy clap of encouragement, though Atrea slowed down as she gave an envious look towards Shevaun for giving her the handicap, whom simply shrugged in return.

Dressed in a frilly red dress as she ties on her tiny bowling shoes, Crimson walk up to the floor standing only as tall as the human's knees. Samson sets her normal sized red and black bowling ball on the floor for her as she rolls it with both hands. Everyone holds their breath to see what happens. As she lines herself up she begins to push forward, the ball slowly gaining velocity. Just before the line, she stops as the ball goes on without her, flying perfectly straight. It collides with the front pin as it pushes each into the next, a strike. Crimson walks back quietly and elegantly as everyone else cheered on her astonishing round.

Last of all Mizryn stands up grabbing a dark blue ball, wearing a pair of sunglasses. She takes a long time to line herself up, making small corrections to her position by step and even centimeters. Once she's set, she takes one step and rolls the ball slowly down the lane as it plows through the center pins. Eight are knocked down, but the two corners are left standing as the furthest possible pins, a 7-10 split. Everyone watching groans uncomfortably, however Mizryn remains cool and collected as she retrieves her ball again. She takes another few moments to set up, more time passes as she continues to make minor adjustments to her standing and angle. And then, she steps forward, the ball rolls slowly and smoothly before gently tapping the left side of the 7 pin, it's popped over to the 10 as she recovers a spare. Again everyone gives a loud round of applause for the accomplishment.

The game continued much the same as the first. Shevaun was only able to get a spare on her second roll though she was still one of the best on either team. Angie had took a moment to rest before waking up for her turn, removing Leo from her left hand to reveal a monstrous claw, hurling the ball for a strike. It came back to Atrea's turn, feeling pressure to pull off a good roll this time. Not just for her team to win this small game, but for her pride. She picked up her ball steadily, taking deep breaths to keep her nerves focused. Putting aside everything else and working to do her best.

She prepares her stance and moves forward, she turns her legs to make room for a wider swing, but on the underhand motion the ball slips from her claws again. It hooks to the right in a wide curve, hitting only three pins. She can sense everyone's reaction without even looking, especially Shevaun's smug grin. She goes to collect her ball, trying to return to a calm state. She returns to her first stance looking down the lane with her ball in view. She closes her eyes for just a moment and exhales, she steps forward again, turns her body like before and rolls the ball, it goes straight with a small turn to the left, hitting all remaining pins. Perfectly speechless, she throws her fists into the air in celebration, turning to everyone, only to be met by casual applause. She had expected a bigger reaction than that.

As Atrea sits down for Olivia's turn, bumpers rising up again, she scoots over to the boy. "D-did I do good?"

"Oh yes, that was very well done. You should be proud for learning so fast."

"B-but, I won the game right?"

"What?" he asks, "there are still more people who need to go. Everyone gets two turns and the first two on each team get an extra two to round out the 10 rounds."

"But the team leader always makes the winning point, it always comes down to the wire, right?"

"Atrea, your team is ahead by like 20 points, you did good and you'll probably win, but I wouldn't say 'down to the wire'."

The rest of the game goes on with the last round going to Angie and Melanie, a very one sided comparison though the final score came out 155 to 100, Atrea's team had won though she had felt it would be more exciting.

"Good game!" Everyone shouted to one another, even the losing team had an enjoyable time seeing everyone else play.

Shevaun approached Atrea reluctantly, Atrea also looking on distrustfully. With a sigh, the Centaur spoke first, "Well you still couldn't hope to beat me in a one on one game, but you won the bet. Your team won."

"Yeah, I guess," Atrea said disheartened.

"I have to say I didn't expect Crimson to be so good, and you'd think I would have gotten more out of a demon."

"Yeah, I guess."

"And, I should probably admit this openly..."

With that, she had Atrea's attention, something she has to admit?

"Your team looked a lot more fun than mine," she declares shyly trying to look away.

Atrea looks back confused? "Um, what?"

"I was busy picking people I thought could win, but in the end you still got better players, not only did they get a surprisingly good score for random people but it was fun to watch for everyone. I admit defeat and relinquish bragging protection."

Atrea hesitates for a moment, wanting to celebrate her victory all over, but something bothers her as well. "No, I think we both lose. I was focused on winning myself I didn't see this as just a fun thing to do with friends." Looking over as everyone eats snacks and pizza the boy had bought for each group to share, she continues her confession, "I was so caught up trying to beat you I didn't give the others a chance to win themselves, or just let everyone win."

"So then, we all win?" Shevaun asks.

"No," Atrea responds, "you and me, we both lose. But they all win."

"Okay..."

"Hey Atrea," the boy calls out to her, "come have some pizza, I don't remember if you like melted cheese or not."

With a heavy sigh, Atrea walks forward to the rest of the group leaving Shevaun behind, "It's time we start acting like winners."

It sounds really awkward to her, as it would to anyone. But Shevaun has to agree with her it's better to just enjoy everyone gathering and having fun than getting bogged down with their competition.


End file.
